When the Wrong One Loves You Right
by kat142001
Summary: Haruno Sakura was always known for her clear, logical mind. So when she gets kidnapped by Akatsuki, she figures she can get close to them so that way she can find a way out. Will her heart let her go through with her plan? Ita/sak
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I am only going to say this once, because doing it on the rest of my chapters really is a pain. I do not own the anime Naruto, nor any of its characters. I do, however, own the plot and so on and so forth. Now that that's done, enjoy the chapter!!

For Haruno Sakura, common sense and logic came second nature, even if it wasn't always what she wanted. Therefore, it was easier for her to understand why she should stay out of fights with people she had no chance of winning, or even surviving against. It was also slightly easier for her to understand than some people, why, after eight years, one of the most important people in her life was still out of it. All of this now understood, she was now having trouble understanding why she was getting ready to attack one of the most dangerous criminal groups in the world, well, she was only going after the most dangerous one, and that she was doing it in an effort to get the man she loved back. Her mind still trying to focus out of its fog, Sakura closed her eyes, and created some very quick hand movements, and upon opening her eyes, set out in the darkness of the night that had recently fallen, after the one man no one had been able to defeat.

The group of ninjas stalking him and his partners were not as bad as some of the others, thought Uchiha Itachi. He had dealt with some of these leaf ninja before, and had never been truly impressed. Though admiration was worlds off, Itachi had to admit that they had gotten better. However, the little fox was still very easy to single out. His enormous amount of chakra was nearly suffocating. But, Itachi nearly smirked, the Jinchuuriki wasn't going after him, but his partner. So then, who was going to try and attack him? An answer came in the form of the earth suddenly splitting beneath his feet, and shuriken flying to where he landed after jumping away into a tree. Everywhere Itachi landed, shuriken or kunai would follow. Which meant, someone was not only able to see in the dark, but able to predict his movements. How interesting. It seemed like the Konaha heroes had found someone to specialize against his sharingan. Or at least, they had tried. No one could escape or match his Mangekyou. And whoever was hunting him, obviously knew that.

She did know. After her one live sighting of him, she couldn't really call it an encounter, Sakura had read up on those infamous eyes of his. Unfortunately, there wasn't too much that was known about them, but Sakura had managed to track some very unfortunate medics who had been hired to heal him. It hadn't been a fun experience, considering she had needed to go into one of the Akatsuki hideouts and jail-break the men, so to speak. Though she hadn't had much time with them, taking the fact that they had all been found and killed, Sakura had gotten enough to bring back to the village and study on her own. With the information she had gotten from the medics, and all the books she had read, Sakura figured herself fairly well-informed about the sharingan, and the Mangekyou. Therefore, she had been able to create her own jutsu for her own eyes to try and counter-act the normal sharingan. Of course, that still left her defenseless against the Mangekyou, but she knew how to avoid it. Her own jutsu allowed her to not only see in the dark, but used the pre-cognition that every human being has, just heightened, to predict the person's moves. The only problem was, the jutsu left her eyes incredibly sensitive, a side effect that goes along with almost any complicated eye jutsu. Also, during the time she has the jutsu on, her eyes go completely purple, except for the irises, which turn pink, and the black, pinwheel-shaped pupils.

That was the part that Itachi found intriguing, when he finally located his attacker. He had never seen anything like it, and concluded that the girl must have created it on her own. Highly risky, and only attainable by someone incredibly intelligent, and gutsy. There was way more to this girl than her pretty face. She didn't seem at all surprised when he suddenly disappeared, then reappeared right behind her. In fact, she was ready for him, and was already turning with a punch when he landed. Itachi very easily dodged it, but felt the power in the punch, and knew, if it hit him, he would have been in serious trouble. He spent a couple tense moments dodging her attacks while trying to land a couple of his own, and observing her movements. A couple of the easier observations were that she already knew about his eyes, for she wasn't looking into them, until she realized that he couldn't use them. This confirmed his suspicions that she was not only a medic, which he already knew, but that she was a brilliant one. She could tell his movements were slightly tired and weak, so therefore figured that he couldn't use his eyes. As she began to look into his eyes, Itachi was able to piece together hers, and try a few experiments. He found that if he knew what movements he was going to use, she could easily predict them. However, if he himself didn't decided exactly what he was going to do until the moment he did it, it was harder for her to predict. Using this new information to his advantage, Itachi began to push her more to the defensive.

The moment his movements became more confident, Sakura knew she was screwed. Apparent by the sudden yelling, her partner, Naruto, became aware of the same fact. He hadn't wanted to leave her alone with the dangerous Uchiha in the first place, but she and Sai had insisted that it was the smartest course of action, considering that the Akatsuki partners were after him, and Sakura standed a better chance against Itachi because of her eyes. However, Naruto had known from the instant they began fighting, that it had been a bad idea, and now it was confirmed.

"Sakura! Get the Hell out of there! Leave him to Sai!!" Naruto tried to get away from Kisame to help Sakura, but even with Sai's help, Kisame was not letting Naruto get the chance. Noticing this, and the fact that Naruto was probably going to last longer than Sakura, Sai took a second to draw a few beasts, and send them Itachi's way, then went back to Naruto, hoping the beasts would give enough of a diversion to let Sakura get away. They didn't even come close. Itachi merely batted them away without even looking at them, and continued after Sakura. Sai inwardly cursed, but couldn't break away from the fight with Kisame and Naruto.

Naruto growled, and began pushing Kisame back. "I can handle fish-face. Go and get Sakura out of there!" After making sure that Naruto would be alright, Sai turned away, and went after Itachi and Sakura.

She had never been in a fight like this. It was like she didn't even have time to breathe before he suddenly came at her with another attack. Normally, she would have turned and run, putting some space between them before throwing weapons and beginning another attack. Unfortunately, Itachi seemed to catch on to her idea, and was not even giving her time to turn around. If she did, he would catch her in the back. So, she remained facing front, fighting a hand-to-hand battle, which was quickly wearing her out. Still, she was surprised at how good he was with hand-to-hand. From all the reports she had heard from Kakashi, she knew that his specialty was gen jutsu, not close contact fighting. Yet here she was, fighting for her life, in close contact. It began to frustrate her, which made the fatigue begin to fade, and her movements become stronger. One of Itachi's brows rose as he felt her strength coming back, and he suddenly had to jump away as she managed a punch through his attacks. Right as he was about to land, another swarm of beasts came out of nowhere. Just like before, he swatted them away, almost in boredom. He looked straight at Sai, and pointed. Knowing exactly what he was doing, Sakura yelled at Sai, and threw herself at Itachi. It was enough, and Itachi's attention was back on Sakura. After a couple blows, Sakura jumped back towards Sai, then froze when she heard a scream. Naruto's scream.

"Sai," she breathed. He nodded, and they both took off.

It didn't take them long to get to where Naruto was, now surrounded by Kisame, Deidara, and two others. Sakura remembered them as Hidan and Tobi. Two kunai were protruding from Naruto, one in the shoulder, the other in his stomach. Unlike normal, these two were deeply embedded, and seemed to have been twisted. Sai pulled out a scroll, and sent more creations after the Akatsuki, who either dodged them, or destroyed them. After a quick nod to Sakura, Sai took off after the group, and Sakura went to Naruto. Kneeling, Sakura began to examine the seriousness of the wounds. Before she could do anything, Naruto pulled them out, and threw them away.

"It's not that bad, Sakura. They just caught me off guard," he said, looking up at her with a pained smile. Sakura shook her head and sighed.

"Well, as long as we have time, I want to heal them as best I can." She gathered chakra, then put her hands to his shoulder. Right as the tissue and muscle began to close, she was suddenly thrown away by a great force. Red spots danced in front of her eyes as she hit a nearby tree on her right side, then crumpled to the ground. Raising herself up on her elbow, she was barely able to see Itachi walking towards her as Naruto yelled, once again in a fight with Kisame.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Kunoichi," Itachi said as Sakura readied her fist to punch the ground. He pulled her up by the hair, and kicked her in the stomach, once again sending her flying into a tree. Her back took the blow this time, but when her head connected, there was no red, only black.

Itachi slowly walked over to the fallen girl, slung her over his shoulder, then turned to Kisame, who was getting his ass kicked by Naruto.

"Kisame! We're leaving." Not even bothering to see if Kisame was following, Itachi took off, soon followed by Hidan, Deidara, Tobi, and, eventually, Kisame. Sai and Naruto followed, but soon fell behind when Deidara began dropping his bombs. Him, Hidan, and Tobi stayed behind to get rid of Naruto and Sai, and soon caught up to the other two, alone.

"So why the Hell are we supposed to get this girl?" Deidara asked after they had gotten a little farther. Itachi just grunted, like usual, which left Kisame to answer.

"She's apparently a very good medic, which means she might be able to help Itachi, and she's close to he Jinchuuriki, which means that he'll come after her."

"Is he really that fucking stupid?" Hidan asked, slight disbelief in his voice.

A smirk appeared on Kisame's face as he answered, "Oh yes. Especially when it concerns someone he cares about." Hidan just sighed, but Deidara smirked.

Tobi looked at them all, confused. "Why does Kisame make that sound like a bad thing?"

A.N. Ok, so this is definitely not my first fanfic, nor my first Itasak fanfic, but I changed my writing style a bit. I've been reading a lot of classics from authors like Jane Austin, and watching some movies set in Victorian-age England, so my speaking and writing has been slightly altered. XD Kinda strange, but hey, my English teacher will love me. Anyway, I hope you all liked the chapter. It was a bit short, but the others will probably be a lot longer (hope that doesn't bother anyone.) No fires please, but I would love some reviews. The only reviews I get are from my sister, so it would be nice to get some non-biased opinions. Thank you very much! --Kat


	2. Chapter 2

It's odd, isn't it, when you wake up from being unconscious, it feels like being in a dream. You can feel everything, but your mind is so foggy you try to assure yourself that you still are in a dream, that whatever happened to put you in that state, if you remember it of course, didn't happen. Well, that was exactly what Sakura was doing right now. She didn't know exactly what she was lying on, because she was so numb, but she definitely was remembering what had happened, and was trying to convince herself that it was just a bad dream. Unfortunately, when she opened her eyes, and saw that she was not in her own bed, like she had hoped, all her efforts of reassurance were dashed. A groan of frustration and misery left her lips before she tried to get up, nearly cursing as the numbness wore off and her whole body throbbed in pain. Taking a moment to try and heal herself enough to think, Sakura tried to think of where she could possibly be. After she got rid of her migraine, she began to look around, and was incredibly shocked at her surroundings. Expecting a cold, dark, stone cell, the spacious and, obviously expensive, bedroom was like a slap in the face.

The four-poster bed she was sitting on at the moment was covered in silk and fur of a warm, creamy color, which matched the drapes around the bed, and the carpet. Swinging her legs over the bed and putting her feet on the floor, Sakura wasn't too surprised to find the carpet incredibly soft. What did surprise her was how warm it was. The furniture around the room was a dark brown, if it was wood, and an incredible white if it was a chair or couch. The walls were a warm, light brown, as was the ceiling. After the initial shock of the room, Sakura looked down, to find another shock. Instead of her clothes, she was dressed in light brown, what seemed to be deer skin, pajamas. She ran her hands over them, and was pleased to feel how soft they were. Shaking her head a couple times to clear her head, she decided to look about a bit more, but when she tried to stand, her knees crumpled, and she fell to the floor. Growling in frustration, she sat, examining them, only to find that they were just weak from not really being used, and they were slightly bruised. Determined to walk, she stood up, and held on to a nearby chest of drawers for support, then began making her way to a door across the room.

She had been so focused on getting up, that she hadn't noticed someone enter the room. Itachi had watched the girl collapse to the floor, then determinedly get back up and make her way weakly across the room. Well, at least she wasn't one to complain and give up. That would keep her from annoying him too much, unlike the other woman residing in the house. He watched as she once again fell to the ground with a little cry of surprise, and pain. This time, he spoke.

"I don't think your legs want to go any farther." He was almost amused as she jumped slightly, then looked over at him with a scowl that would frighten most people. Most. Not Itachi. He was used to looks of anger and loathing. Hidan, Deidara, and Konan constantly gave him those looks. Then, as if in spite, the girl got back up, and shakily made her way to the door, and opened it, to find a bathroom in the same white and cream colors as the room. As she disappeared into the bathroom, Itachi walked further into the room to keep an eye on her. She was just exploring, looking at nearly everything in there as if to keep it in her memory. Every time she touched something, it was so gentle, as if she didn't want to break it, even if it was one of the towels. It was such a contradiction to her style in fighting, Itachi raised an eyebrow. Once she was satisfied, she walked back out, not even looking at Itachi, and headed back to the bed. Her legs seemed to have gotten their strength back, before they suddenly gave way again. This time, Itachi flashed behind her, and caught her before she hit the ground. Sakura was about to protest when he suddenly swooped her up, and carried her over to the bed, setting her down gently before walking back to the door. Shock had taken the capability to speak away from Sakura, and she sat, mouth slightly open, with a look on her face somewhere between appalled, and disbelief. When Itachi turned, he ignored the look completely as he spoke.

"I was ordered to make sure that you were alive. Konan will be here in a couple of minutes," with that, he walked out, leaving Sakura to get her voice back.

By the time she did get her voice back, it was taken away again as a woman with blue hair and a flower pinned in it, swept in and stood in front of Sakura.

"I'm so glad you're awake! You've been out for nearly three days! Not that's it's too surprising if you've been fighting Itachi, but oh well! My name's Konan, and the room we are currently in is my extra room, here in case I don't want to sleep with Pein. Who is the leader of Akatsuki, and my lover," Konan took moment to look Sakura over, then spoke again. "So your name is Sakura? It certainly fits. Now then, any clothes you need are in the closet, which is right next to the bathroom, or in the chest of drawers, and you can use anything in the shower, or you can ask me to borrow something. There's also perfume, but you don't quite strike me as the type to use perfume. So it's there if you want to use it. I think that's it, so when you're finished cleaning up, you can come downstairs, and have something to eat. I bet you're hungry after three days."

She turned to go out, but Sakura was able to finally use her voice.

"Wait! Aren't I your captive? Why are you treating me so well?" Konan turned to Sakura with a bright smile.

"Well, after all of the other medics we had, I thought that if we treated you a little bit better, you might be more willing to help. We're not that bad, as long as you're not one of our targets anyway. Also, you have no idea how grateful I am to have a woman in the house that's not going to be one of Hidan's sacrifices." She laughed, then went to the door. As she was about to walk out, she turned back and said, "And, you're not allowed to leave this building. You will constantly be under our, well…mostly Itachi's, careful gaze." With another brilliant smile, she walked out.

After recovering from more shock, and a bit of anger, Sakura went into the bathroom to take a long shower. It was wonderful to breathe in all the different scents of soaps and oils, and forget about her current predicament. If there was one thing Sakura had never expected, it was that the Akatsuki could be hospitable. Especially Itachi. She had been most surprised when he had been so gentle. Not really warm, but not as cold and…murderous as he was in battle. He seemed almost…human. With a frown, Sakura decided right then and there that she was going to find out as much about this group as possible, especially the enigmatic, and stunning, Uchiha. Wait…stunning…no! Shaking her head violently, Sakura immediately got the thought out of her head. She would not think of him like that, even if it was true, no! She would be a good girl and keep her guard up. He may be interesting, especially with his random bout of humanity, but she had to remember what he did to Sasuke, and what he was going to do to Naruto. With that implanted in her brain, she was sure to remain strong. Besides, she still loved Sasuke. That would help her even more, except for the fact that they looked so much alike.

With a sigh, Sakura got out of the shower, happy to be clean again. When she walked out into the room, she nearly screamed. For there, leaning comfortably against the bed, was Itachi. He could tell automatically how angry she was. It seemed like at any moment, steam would come rolling off her. However, he still didn't feel in the least bit threatened. How could he, when she was dripping wet, her hair in strings down her back, clutching her towel around her. It was almost comical. She seemed to get that he wasn't at all frightened, for she blew out a frustrated breath, and walked into the closet, happy to find an excuse to get out of his line of sight. From inside the closet, she yelled out to him, "What are you doing here?" While looking through all the clothes, she listened, but didn't hear anything for a moment, until his voice came from right behind her.

"I'm sure Konan told you," he said, voice completely devoid of anything remotely close to emotion, even though he did have the satisfaction of seeing her jump, startled, then glare at him again.

"Does that mean that you are going to be watching me at all times?" she asked irritably, going back to looking for clothes. He merely leaned against the door frame, watching her,

"Most times," he said simply. She growled slightly as she pulled out a few items. Making sure to glare at him again, she walked past him and back into the bathroom, turning before she closed the door and saying, "Stay,"

Once she closed the door, Itachi raised a brow. "Your temper makes you quite reckless," he said, loud enough so she could hear him through the door. She came out a couple minutes later, fully clothed, running a brush roughly through her hair.

"You have no idea," she said, not even looking at him, but going over to the chest of drawers, looking through it, smiling a bit as she found some lotion.

"I should warn you," Itachi said once she sat down and began lathering some of the lotion on, "that even though you are treated as a guest, you are still a captive, more specifically, my captive. Though I can't kill you, I can still hurt you."

Sakura paused, and looked up at him, surprising him when she looked straight into his eyes, no fear in hers. "I know. But, at the same time, I know that you do not do anything unnecessary, and I have done nothing to truly anger you, so therefore, it would be unnecessary to hurt me," After holding his gaze for another moment, she turned back to the lotion. Itachi was once again surprised when he felt a surge of annoyance. Apparently this girl didn't need to complain to annoy him. Curious. Without a word, he walked out of the door, closing it behind him. Sakura watched him leave, then smiled to herself. This was going to be fun.

A.N. Second chapter done!! It's funny because I've been sitting in my room writing these, and am finishing them rather quickly. The whole personality came from my sister. We do some Naruto rp, and that's exactly how she portrays Konan, and believe me, Konan will only get more crazy. As I already stated, no fires please, but reviews are greatly appreciated. I hope you are enjoying the story so far, for I am having a lot of fun writing it! Until next time! --Kat


	3. Chapter 3

When Sakura came downstairs, the first thing she noticed, was noise. There was roar, then obscene yelling. Slightly anxious, she headed out to what seemed to be the living room. She didn't get to see all the people in there before Konan came up and ushered her out.

"I don't think you want to in there right now," she said, though Sakura suspected that she was also using her as an excuse to get out of there herself. Ignoring all of Sakura's protests, Konan brought her into another room, which looked a lot like the living room, but it was slightly smaller, with a larger fireplace than the first. Struck with curiosity, Sakura went and looked closer at the marble mantelpiece. "Strange isn't it?'

"What?" Sakura didn't even turn to Konan as she spoke.

"The fact that the other room is bigger, but this one has a bigger fireplace." Konan gave a slight laugh, enjoying the irony.

Sakura finally turned to her. "Was it just built that way, or is there a specific reason?"

Konan smiled, giving Sakura part of the answer before she even spoke. "Kakuzu is obsessive when it comes to money and how much we spend. Therefore, he refused to have a large fireplace, even though this place is freezing in the winter. So, Pein had a larger one built in this room when Kakuzu and Hidan were on a mission," she smirked, going next to Sakura and looking at the mantelpiece.

"Wouldn't he come into this room though?" Sakura said, walking around the room.

Konan laughed, "Oh no. This room was always cold, and it used to be used for Hidan's sacrifices," Sakura paused, looking back at Konan.

"He really does that? I had heard that as a rumor, I didn't know it was actually true," she didn't look too horrified, just more shocked. Konan raised her eyebrows, slightly impressed by Sakura's reaction.

"Yes, he does sacrifices. It's funny, Tobi just thinks that all the girls that Hidan brings are his girlfriends, and all the men are just buddies. We let him continue to think that. Hidan once tried to tell him that he actually killed them, but Tobi didn't believe him. I thought Deidara was going to die of laughter," with a small sigh, she turned away from the mantelpiece to look at Sakura. "I took you out of that other room because I wasn't sure if you'd be ready to meet everyone when they're fighting like that,"

There was a pause as Sakura nodded, taking everything in. "So what were they fighting about?"

Konan seemed reluctant to answer. "Well, Kakuzu just found out about why you're staying here, and he started bitching about having to pay for another person, so he would have to take out of something else, and he began talking about taking it out of wood, which would mean no fire. Seeing as how it's near winter, that didn't suit too well with Hidan, and he began yelling. So, Kakuzu chopped his head off, and Hidan began yelling even louder," she shrugged, as if it was normal. Sakura just nodded, slightly stunned. She was supposed to help these people? They were S-class criminals, and they were after Naruto. Not only that, but they had killed Gara, and with what Itachi had done to Sasuke…there was no way she could do it. No way she would do it. They may be human, at least, she was pretty sure they were human, but they were still evil. All they wanted was power. The more she thought about it, the more determined Sakura became to rebelling against them. Even if she ended up in some cell, with no freedom, at least she would have ended up there for doing the right thing and keeping her dignity. That was what mattered, no matter what.

As if noticing what Sakura was thinking, Konan directed her out of the room, and back into the larger room, where it was now quiet. None of them looked up as the two women answered, probably because they were either keeping their eyes on the wall, or were trying really hard not to laugh. With a confused frown, Sakura entered further into the room, and looked at the wall that Pein and Tobi were looking at. Words and thoughts failed her as her eyes came upon Hidan, his body was pinned up on the wall by a few kunai, as was his head (the kunai was through his neck, supporting it.) His mouth was moving, but no sound was coming out, and Sakura soon saw why. His vocal cords had been ripped out, and were resting beneath his feet. Not only was his mouth moving, but he was sending death glares at Kakuzu, who was sitting at a desk, doing what looked like paperwork. Konan merely looked up, sighed, and walked over to Pein's side. After piecing together what happened, Sakura looked around the room. Kisame and Deidara were the ones laughing, while Itachi was just leaning against one of the walls, eyes closed. Sakura felt an automatic surge of hate. Itachi's eyes opened, and pierced through Sakura's for a moment, before he closed them again. A couple moments later, Sakura's heart started again.

"Would Sakura-chan like anything to eat?" Sakura nearly had a heart attack at the sudden voice of someone next to her. She turned and saw Tobi looking at her.

"Um, that's ok. I'm really not that hungry."

"She hasn't eaten in three days," Itachi said from his place at the wall. Sakura sent a glare almost as poisonous as Hidan's towards him. He merely kept his eyes closed, but his statement had worked its magic. Tobi gasped.

"I'll make something right now!" and with that, he was off. Sakura sat on the couch with a huff. Kisame watched her, eyes lingering on her body. Automatically getting a feeling of complete warning, Sakura scooted away from him. A silence followed, leaving Sakura to just stare into the fire, not knowing how in Hell she was going to get out of there, but knowing that she had to do it somehow. She didn't care if these people weren't that bad, as Konan claimed. They had kidnapped her, and she needed to get back to her village and her friends, and the looks that Kisame was giving her only made her resolve that much stronger. Not only that, but she knew, with her always active emotions, she could very easily get caught caring for them. Well…some of them. Looking at Kisame, she knew she would have a problem with him, and then…she could never care for Itachi.

"Here you go!" Sakura was suddenly brought out of her thoughts as Tobi came in, carrying a huge plate of food. All she could do was sputter as she looked at the huge variety of foods that were on the plate, and that wasn't all. Tobi went out and got another plate.

"I really won't be able to eat all of this," she said, slightly in awe.

"If you don't, he will be really upset," Deidara said, smirking. Sakura just glared at him.

"No. Tobi knows that's a lot, and that Sakura shouldn't eat too much. I also brought some for everyone else since it's lunch time!" Sakura was sure that if she could see behind his mask, Tobi would be smiling brightly. With a sigh, she leaned forward and began picking things off of the plates, happy that they were all finger food. She was soon followed by Deidara, Kisame, and Konan. After a few minutes, the food was all gone, Sakura only eating a few bites. Humming a happy tune, Tobi took the plates, and took off for the kitchen. There was silence for a couple minutes, in which Sakura continued trying to figure out how she was going to get her way out. So immersed in her thoughts, she didn't even notice Itachi open his eyes and watch her. Suddenly, he pushed off of the wall, which caught her attention, and began walking out of the room.

"Come with me Kunoichi," he said simply, leaving no room for Sakura to argue. With a mutinous glare, she followed him, causing Konan to give a little smile.

"There's going to be fireworks," she said once Sakura and Itachi were out of earshot. Pein merely nodded, thinking.

Following Itachi up the stairs, Sakura felt slight depression setting in. Upon noticing this, she immediately started thinking of different ways to try and kill Itachi. A couple of them involved some very ridiculous antics, but it made her smile. It made her think of Naruto. One involving both Naruto and Sasuke very nearly made her laugh. These thoughts managed to help her forget about why she was even going upstairs, until she heard a door open. Itachi was holding the door open for her, and waiting expectantly. Not bothering to hide her unhappiness, Sakura went in, and looked around. The only problem was, she couldn't see anything. Her only source of light was the light coming from the hallway. However, that also died as he closed the door. Fear didn't set in immediately. She just stood, waiting for him to turn on a light, or light a candle. But the darkness remained. Unlike any other time, when a person's eyes adjust to dark, hers couldn't.

With a frustrated sigh, she spoke, "What on Earth are you doing?" Her heart stopped when a sudden movement very close to her caused her hair to move. She spun around, trying to catch it. Then, forcing herself to calm down, she raised her hands, and closed her eyes. Right as she was about to form the hand motions for her jutsu, someone grabbed her hands, and threw her back. Once again frustrated, Sakura raised her voice. "What are you trying to prove?" The voice came from the dark behind her, cold and emotionless.

"That I can scare you, and to emphasize what I have already said. You are still a captive, and I will do whatever necessary to keep that in your mind." Sakura felt another shift of the air, and automatically knew that he had moved right up behind her. His body heat radiated against hers, and his breath stirred her hair and spread across her neck, which was left bare because of the pins which were holding her hair up.

"You don't scare me," she said softly, her voice full of defiance. It was true, he wasn't scaring her in the least. Yet. A surprised and pained cry came from her as he suddenly grabbed her hair, scattering the pins, and whipping her around to face him. They were so close that Sakura put up her hands on his chest to try and create some space. "Let me go," her voice was now a low and dangerous growl. Not even giving her the chance to breathe, Itachi threw her back against a wall, using her hair. She gave a gasp as the breath left her, and was once again surprised when he suddenly pressed himself against her again, effectively pinning her against the wall.

"I can tell that you are smarter than most of the pathetic ninja from your village. So tell me, why aren't you afraid?" the curiosity in his voice nearly covered up the growl, even more dangerous than Sakura's. Nearly.

"To tell you the truth, I don't know. I was afraid of you. I know how much power you have, and that I stand no chance against you. But for some reason, the fear won't come," as she spoke, Sakura's voice became more and more curious. His question had taken her off guard, for even she didn't know the answer. After a couple moments, Itachi let her go, and walked away. Sakura fell to the floor, finally able to breathe fully. It seemed like hours until he spoke again.

"Maybe you can answer this question then. Why is it that when someone cares for someone else, they somehow become stronger when that person is in danger, but at them same time, can be so easily defeated?" he sounded truly curious, so Sakura didn't even think about not answering.

"When you really care about someone, they become part of the reason you live. You may have other dreams and aspirations, but they are the reason you keep going if you fall. Therefore, when they are in danger, you do everything you can to save them. No one really knows why, but sometimes people can become ten times stronger than normal just by the sheer determination to save those they love. I guess that's why they say that love is all-powerful. However, if it is possible that a person you love is about to be killed, you would do anything, including surrendering, to ensure their safety," she then paused, standing back up, and looking in his direction, even if she couldn't see him.

"Hm," was all he said. It seemed a long time again before he turned suddenly, and spoke. "So are you still going to be as mutinous as you've been?"

Sakura smirked, and he heard it in her voice. "I'm afraid so. That's just who I am. I may be book smart, but many people tell me my temper and stubbornness make me stupid in other areas. I guess this is one of those. So," she shrugged, "you'll just have to hurt me." She heard a slight whoosh of breath, which she assumed was his version of a laugh.

"You were close to my brother, weren't you?" the question took Sakura off guard, and she could only stand in silence, wary of what he was going to do next. "You loved him didn't you? And he rejected you," he could feel all the fierceness leave the air as her aura went suddenly sad. "That's what you're afraid of. You're afraid of falling in love, and getting hurt again. Although," he walked a bit closer to her, and felt her back up, "you still love him." It wasn't a question. He knew, and he knew how scared she was of getting her heart broken again. He kept walking closer, until he backed her up against the wall. "There are other ways of hurting you than just physical." As he took in a breath, he caught her scent, and was surprised to feel his stomach muscles clench. He snapped back, as if burned, causing Sakura's eyes to widen. Then, because of his sudden retreat, the shock wore off, and anger began to build. A curse nearly left Itachi as he felt her anger, and as his own built. What the Hell was this woman doing to him?

"Don't you dare use that against me. If you want me to help, just leave me the Hell alone," she got up away from the wall, and opened the door. "I knew that you defeated your enemies by messing with their minds, but I'm not supposed to be your enemy. I also never knew that you would use such a low, cheap trick." With that, she walked out, and slammed the door.

A.N. Ok, another chapter done. I told you the later ones would be longer! I'm not sure how much longer the others will be, I just write until I feel that the chapter could end, and then I end it. Sorry if Itachi seemed out of character, but I always thought that he had a little more emotion to him. If you watch the anime carefully, and look at the manga, he does show occasional surprise, and even a little bit of annoyance. Also, later on in the manga, he does some things that you would not expect, like not attacking Naruto at one point because he wanted to talk to him. In any case, I believe there is a lot more to him, and I think he is more human than he lets on, he just doesn't show it. Whether it is because he doesn't know how, or that he doesn't want to seem weak, I don't know. So…there's that, and there will be more little occurrences of Itachi's humanity as we go on. Reviews and some ideas would be wonderful! Thank you very much! --Kat


	4. Chapter 4

Anger was still pulsing through Sakura as she slammed the door to her room and began pacing, running her hand through her hair, which was flying around freely. Tears began to cloud her vision, but she didn't pay much attention. Looking over, she noticed the drapes on the wall. They were large enough to not only cover a window, but double doors. Wrenching them open, Sakura let out a small laugh. Exquisite glass double doors were latched together, closing off a large stone balcony. The whole scene could be absurdly romantic, if not for the mood Sakura was in, and the people she was with.

This brought her back to the whole reason she was standing in her room, feeling just about ready to kill someone. Itachi in particular. The damn bastard had seen right through her. Luckily, Sakura reminded herself, there were some things even he wouldn't be able to see. Mostly because she was so determined to hide it. Two years ago, something had happened on one of Sakura's missions that had left her scarred beyond repair. Of course, she didn't let it affect her personality, but it was always in the back of her mind, haunting her every move. No one knew about it, thanks to the time she had had to recover, but when she had gotten back to the village, Naruto, Sai and Kakashi had been suspicious of her behavior. Within a few days though, they forgot about it, and Sakura put it away as deep as she could.

A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts. She spun around, planning on telling whoever it was to go away, but the door just flew open, and Hidan walked inside.

"Oh. You're still alive," was all he said before closing the door and going over to sit on the bed.

"What do you mean I'm still alive? Of course I'm still alive," Sakura retorted indignantly. Hidan just raised an eyebrow.

"Nobody's ever fucking treated Sleeping Beauty the way you did and fucking lived,"

Sakura sighed. She had figured as much.

"You're not exactly fucking smart when you get angry, are you?" Hidan watched with amusement as she raised herself to her full height defensively, which would still only bring her to his shoulder.

"It's not my fault. It was like he was trying to push my buttons on purpose and…wait a minute…" she looked at Hidan more carefully. He just frowned in confusion, "weren't you up on the wall?"

"Oh, yea. Leader decided that I should be off the fucking wall for at least a fucking hour before my fucking mission, so he ordered fucking Kakuzu to fucking take me down and put my fucking vocal cords back in. I fucking heal quickly," he said, answering her unspoken question about how he could speak. She shook her head slightly, trying not to think so she could avoid a headache.

"Why do you speak like that?" she asked suddenly. Putting up a hand to rub at the ache between her eyes.

"Like what? This is how I always fucking speak," he looked sincerely perplexed. Sakura laughed, taking her hand away from the bridge of her nose to point.

"That! Always cussing and insulting people,"

Hidan merely shrugged. "It's just how I fucking talk. If anyone has a fucking problem with it, they'll fucking have to deal with me," he looked up at her. "Do you have a fucking problem with the way I speak?"

"No," she laughed a little more, and then shook her head. "No one I know talks like that. It's kind of refreshing, actually." This surprised not only Hidan. Even Sakura was a little surprised to discover this little revelation.

"Does everyone you know talk like a fucking saint or something?" his voice and face were clearly mortified. It took a lot of effort for Sakura not to laugh again.

"No, they just don't cuss after every other word,"

"Well why fucking not?" Hidan stood up, walking closer to her, running a hand through his hair in exasperation.

"Because not everyone needs to let out that much anger and violence," Sakura said, not the least bit intimated at how close he was coming. "And even if they do, they don't feel the need to let it out in vulgar language,"

"Oh. So you find my fucking language vulgar, do you?" Hidan raised an eyebrow, close enough now to Sakura that they were almost touching. She turned to face him fully, challenging him.

"Yes. Not to say that I don't like it, it's just a fact," she brought her arms to her side, looking up at Hidan, surprised to find that she was enjoying the little mental challenge they were having. It was getting rid of all the pent up stress and anger she had had.

"So you fucking think that my fucking language is fucking vulgar, but you fucking like it. Is that fucking right?"

"That's the general idea,"

Hidan gave a laugh. "You are fucking strange. It might not be so fucking bad having you around," he backed off a bit. "We need someone to add some more fucking entertainment to this goddamn boring fucking house," Sakura gave a real laugh this time, causing Hidan to look at her with both eyebrows raised this time. "How is that fucking funny?"

"I'm just not used to that language." She managed between laughs. "And you seem so horribly miserable that you're desperate for anything." Managing to calm down, she looked back at Hidan, who was still watching her warily, but with more of a frown on his face. Then he just shrugged.

"When you live in a house with these fucking bastards, you get fucking bored. I would say that Sleeping Beauty can be interesting, but he's mostly in his room, living up to his name," This caught Sakura's attention, and she looked in the direction of Itachi's room, a frown crossing her own face.

"Why does he sleep so much?"

"Because the fucking bastard is always off doing missions, using his eyes and getting himself fucking injured. You would sleep for days on fucking end too if you did all that fucking much," he began to walk towards the door, muttering. Sakura caught a little bit about how it was all Itachi's fucking fault because he was never careful enough. "By the way, you are allowed to leave the room on your own, just not the house. Konan and Pein gave you permission to wander the house, but, I would stay away from the cellar," he gave a grim smile.

"Why?" Sakura asked, already guessing what it might be.

"That was where Orochimaru lived,"

For the next couple of weeks, Sakura spent most of her time with the other members, watching them fight with each other and breaking it up, or just…talking. Even though the only actual full conversations she had were with Pein, Konan, Deidara and Tobi. Whenever she had tried to talk to Kisame, she had always had to yell at him to keep his eyes up, and Hidan just had a short attention span. Kakuzu and Zetsu just kept to themselves. She had been able to explore the floor where her bedroom was, and the floor beneath it with the main entrance, living rooms, and kitchen. Any of the other times she was tempted to go looking elsewhere, she would always get distracted by one of the members. All of this time, Itachi remained a constant shadow. Wherever she went, she would only have to look around, and he would be nearby. There were some occasions when he would just randomly disappear, and she would be left alone with some of the other members, but all in all, he was close by.

Some of the other discoveries Sakura made were in her own room. When she tried opening the balcony doors, she was thrilled to find that they were unlocked. However, she kept these closed most of the time because of how cold it was outside. The location of the hideout seemed to be in the midst of winter. There hadn't been any snow yet, but the sky and cold air were threatening. It was nice to go out for a little bit each day and drink up the cold air, then go back inside where it was nice and warm, and curl up by the fire.

Another discovery Sakura had made was that there was a small compartment in her closet that held a myriad of books. The variety ranged from books that had been written as recently as a few years ago, to some of the oldest classics. One of them, much to her delight, was even written in a different language. Her delight only increased when she realized that it was one of the languages that she had learned a few years ago. Hidan had, at one point, tried to read over her shoulder, then cursed loudly about how she was "fucking crazy to read shit like that." Kakuzu had seemed slightly impressed at her choice of reading though. He even came up and asked her what it was, then nodded his head as if in approval. What surprised her the most, was how Itachi had commented on the fact that he had enjoyed reading it a couple years prior.

To say that life at the Akatsuki hideout was dull, would have been a complete and utter lie. There was never a dull moment for Sakura, except when she was sleeping, and even that was sometimes hard to come by. Deidara's room was in the same hall as hers, and he was constantly setting off bombs, followed by Hidan and Kisame's yelling, and, occasionally, Tobi coming into her room and asking if he could sleep in there because his senpai was scaring him. All the while, Sakura had to keep her head clear, and make sure that they didn't get to her too much.

One afternoon, after two and-a-half weeks with Akatsuki, Sakura woke herself up very early one morning, determined to explore the rest of the house unaccompanied. By now, she had managed to pick up and memorize all of the member's sleeping habits, and therefore knew exactly when she could get up and roam around. There was the slight issue of Tobi being up at all ungodly hours, and Itachi, being just plain unpredictable, but she figured she would try anyway. Luck seemed to be on her side as she managed a shower, then got dressed without waking anyone up. Her luck only increased as she made it downstairs on her own without anyone following her. Smiling brightly, she went down to the kitchen, expecting to find everything dark, but was slightly and disappointingly surprised when the lights were on. No surprise came when she walked in and saw Tobi, pulling out some containers from the refrigerator.

"Tobi, what on Earth are you doing up at this hour? You were up very late last night?" Her voice startled Tobi, and he jumped away from the refrigerator as if he had been caught doing something bad.

"T-tobi was just hungry, and woke up to get something before breakfast. Tobi didn't know that Sakura-chan would be up! Why is Sakura-chan up?"

"I wanted to look around the house some more, and was hoping to do it without Itachi following me," she said, voice dropping a bit as she said Itachi's name.

"Itachi-san's not all that bad. He's just following Sakura-chan because he was ordered to so that way Sakura-chan wouldn't run away or get into trouble," Tobi defended Itachi, sounding completely sincere. "Itachi-san has always been nice to Tobi. He may get frustrated sometimes when Tobi does something klutzy, but he has never insulted Tobi, and even sometimes acts kind,"

Sakura sighed, finding all that hard to believe. "It just gets annoying. He's also done some things that I cannot condone," she looked away for a moment, out the dark window.

"Sakura-chan?"

"Hm?"

"What does condone mean?" Sakura looked back at Tobi, surprised, then laughed. "Ask your senpai when he wakes up." Now more alert, Sakura looked around the kitchen. "Do you have anything I can eat while I walk?"

"Of course! Here is a banana and some toast for Sakura-chan! Have fun!" handing both items to Sakura, Tobi then went back to grabbing containers.

With toast and banana in hand, Sakura set off, deciding to start up and make her way down. She had known already that there was a floor above hers, but didn't know how far underground the building went. Upon entering the top floor, she realized that at least two of the rooms were bedrooms. Treading very carefully, she walked past the short hall and turned left, finding another hall which had a beautiful mural on the left side, and windows from floor to ceiling on the other. A little light was coming in from the just-rising sun, making the glass sparkle around the edges where it had frozen. It was breathtaking.

She walked along the hall, taking in the beauty, then stopped when she came to a door. Gently putting her hand on the handle, she opened the door, slightly surprised to find it unlocked. Her breath was once again stolen. White marble, which would normally have been blinding, was gently gleaming from the dim light, shining slightly from a thin layer of ice. Glass domed over the top to form a see-through ceiling, and an assortment of white, silver and pink flowers adorned part of the floor and halfway up the glass. From the looks of the room, it hadn't been touched in years. The flowers were petrified in ice, but seemed like they could survive independently once the weather got warmer.

She had been so enthralled with the room itself, that she hadn't even looked out the glass to the view below. A vast lake surrounded by trees with mountains in the distance created a spectacular sight. Because of the fact that Sakura had never really looked out of a window besides her own and the kitchens, which faced the west, she had never seen this part of the house's surrounding. The sun was peaking over the mountains, staining the clouds a dark pink color, reflecting on the water. Sakura would have been perfectly content to stand and watch the sun rise, but she remembered that she needed to get down to the bottom floor without running into any of the others. Not to mention the fact that it was freezing cold in the room. As quietly as she could, Sakura managed to make it down to the kitchen, look around for anyone, and head on down the stairs towards the bottom floors. Not daring to believe her luck, she continued down the stairs, incredibly curious to what was underneath the house.

Hidan came down into the living room, yawning and stretching, but stopped in mid-stretch when he felt an oppressive aura bearing down on him. Opening one eye, he looked around, noticing Pein, Konan and Kakuzu, all looking at him with hard faces. Itachi was leaning against the wall opposite him, looking completely emotionless, but Hidan knew he was the one with the oppressive aura. Taking a second to look at them all, Hidan was able to put together what the problem was.

"She's fucking gone isn't she?"

"Yes," Konan spoke, sounding completely calm and serious, but still with an edge. "We figured you could help us figure out where she went. Itachi says she's still in the house, but she's done some very good chakra work, and we can't find her exact location."

"Well why the fuck are you freaking out if she's still in the fucking house? She probably just went fucking exploring and didn't want anyone fucking tailing her. Can't fucking blame her myself," he stopped what he was about to say, seeing Itachi open his eyes and look over at him, eyes like knives.

"Well," Pein sighed, "do you have any idea where she could be?"

Hidan paused, looking around as if trying to decide if his well-being was on the line. "I heard her go past my fucking room earlier, at a fucking ungodly hour, and then she fucking went back downstairs about an hour ago," he watched them give each other glances, then look back at Itachi, who said nothing.

"Do you think she got lost?" Pein asked, looking back at Hidan.

"She could have, but I wouldn't fucking worry. I don't even fucking know why you all are,"

"There are still some traps down in Orochimaru's floor that, if she got lost, could get her into serious trouble," Hidan's eyes widened slightly as Itachi finally spoke.

"He fucking speaks. Never fucking knew,"

"We need to go find her before she gets herself killed," Konan said before Hidan could say anything that would land him back up against the wall with his vocal cords on the floor again.

"I'll go," Itachi said, pushing away from the wall and walking out of the room and towards the staircase. "You're coming with me," he said to Hidan as he passed him.

"What? Why the fuck do I have to go and fucking find her?"

"Because you can go in and set of some of the traps without getting yourself killed," Itachi said, giving Hidan a withering look, which of course only made Hidan glare back.

"Fine. This is fucking ridiculous,"

Down on the last floor, Sakura had finally figured out that she was lost. She had explored for about an hour in content, loving the garden floor, then, what appeared to be a worshipping floor, and a couple others that were very interesting. However, she know found herself in a dark corridor, with dim red lights glowing softly to create and ominous feeling. After wandering the corridor for a few minutes, she realized instantly why the foreboding feeling had risen. Without thinking, she had wandered down to Orochimaru's floor, and now, thanks to her stroke of brilliance, she was lost.

Cursing herself, Sakura sped up, trying to find a way out. As her pace increased, she began hearing whispers, like a gentle breeze against her ear. She spun around on a gasp, but there was no one there. Chills running up and down her spine, her heart beating manically, she turned back and started running toward the staircase she had come from, but couldn't find her way. The voices got louder, becoming a confusing roar in her ears. Though she couldn't understand the words, she could guess their meaning, and knew that she had just gotten herself into huge trouble. Beginning to panic, she threw open a door, and ran inside, slamming the door behind her. She leaned back against the door, relieved to hear the voices subsiding.

As her knees buckled, Sakura slid down and collapsed to the floor. Her heart froze as she heard a voice, coming from directly in front of her.

"Well, what a surprise. Haruno Sakura,"

A.N. Hey everyone! Thank you sooo much for the reviews! They really inspire me to write more. Unfortunately, I had to re-write chapter four, but it's up now, and chapter five will soon be up as well. I am so sorry to animeloverxoxo, but I can't do much to space the paragraphs any more. I divided them up a bit so they're not as big, but I unfortunately can't do any more than that, and I am really sorry because I know how you feel. Thank you all again for the reviews, and more would be wonderful! Slant agat! --Kat


	5. Chapter 5

Sakura's blood froze in her veins. She knew that voice. And yet, there was something different about it. It was darker, and had a bit of a…hiss to it.

"Not even going to say hello? How rude,"

"Kabuto…" Sakura breathed, backing up against the door, watching Kabuto carefully. He was cloaked, and she could only see half of him. She dreaded to see what the other half was.

"Yes. Now, I wonder, what are you doing here? Considering this is Akatsuki, I figured this would be the last place you would want to be, unless you were planning some sort of sabotage, or another jail break perhaps?" his voice was incredibly amused, and Sakura could see him smiling.

"No, they kidnapped me,"

"Did they now?" Kabuto began to walk around the room, which was, as Sakura noticed for the first time, lit dimly by a few candles, and huge. It was like some sort of ballroom. However, she didn't spend long looking around the room before she turned back to Kabuto.

"What are you doing here?"

Kabuto walked around a bit more, silent. When he turned to speak to her, he was still wearing a smile. "This whole wing used to be Lord Orochimaru's," he said, once again turning his attention away from Sakura and back to the room. "This room was for…training." The way he paused and chuckled confirmed Sakura's suspicions that this room had been used for things that she knew would churn her stomach.

"That still doesn't explain why you're here," Sakura mentally kicked herself as her voiced wavered slightly. Kabuto didn't seem to notice.

"I had heard rumors that you were here, and figured you would be too great a help to these people, and that I should help you get out of here." He sounded perfectly sincere, but something in Sakura was still yelling at her to run.

"Alright, and if I don't want to leave?"

Kabuto laughed. "And why wouldn't you? You were kidnapped, therefore taken against your will, and, from what I've heard, are under the watch of someone whom you hate, and are being forced to help him. No, the Sakura I know would leave as soon as she got the opportunity,"

"Yes, well, you should also know that I wait until the moment is most strategically right. Now would not be a good time. If I tried to leave, with all of them here, they would merely catch me again." She jumped as another voice hissed out of Kabuto.

"Just take her already! We can't afford to waste time! They are coming!" Without a sound, Kabuto was suddenly in front of Sakura, holding a kunai to her throat.

"Now, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way. But either way you chose, we can't afford to have you help Itachi or any of the other members," Kabuto's voice was now his own, though Sakura could now see that half of his body wasn't.

"Oh my God," she didn't even try to hide the repulsion in her voice as she saw Orochimaru, sharing Kabuto's body. Kabuto/Orochimaru smiled wickedly, pressing the kunai harder against her neck, creating a small cut. As Sakura breathed, she could feel the blood slowly trickling down her skin.

"Are you going to come quietly, or do I have to silence you?" Kabuto/Orochimaru asked.

Suddenly, there was a crash at the opposite wall, and Itachi walked in, Hidan behind him. Kabuto/Orochimaru hesitated for a moment, then whipped Sakura in front of them, still holding the kunai to her throat. Hidan cursed loudly while Itachi just remained quiet, watching.

"If you do anything, I will kill her!" Kabuto/Orochimaru yelled. They were so occupied watching both Hidan and Itachi, that they didn't notice Itachi's hand inconspicuously raise, and point at them. With a gasp, they let go of Sakura, and began looking around frantically. "What did you do with her?" With wide eyes, they froze staring off into empty space. Sakura watched with shocked fascination as they began to back up, fear plain in their eyes. Then, with a growl, they disappeared.

"Well shit," Hidan said, walking into the room, "I hoped we had them there. I would have loved to have taken care of them. They creep the shit out of me,"

Still silent, Itachi walked over to where Sakura was still standing. She looked up when he came over, but didn't move. He looked at her face, and noticed some fear still lingering, then down to her throat. For a split second, Sakura thought she saw a frown form on his face, but it was gone so quickly she couldn't be sure.

"You should heal that," was all he said, before he walked out.

Hidan watched him leave, then muttered, "Fucker," under his breath. He then sighed, and turned back to Sakura. "Did the other fucker do anything to you?" he asked walking over as she too began walking in his direction. She merely shook her head, then put a hand up to her throat, feeling the damage. It wasn't that bad.

"Can you get me out of here? I got lost," her voice was sheepish, and she avoided Hidan's gaze. There was a pause before Hidan laughed.

"That's fucking obvious," he said. "Come on, I'll show you the way out," he grabbed her arm, and dragged her out.

It had taken Sakura an hour to get lost, but only five minutes for Hidan to bring her back into the living room. Everyone was sitting there, and looked up when Hidan and Sakura came in, giving Sakura the notion that they had all noticed when she suddenly disappeared.

"So where was she? Itachi just kinda breezed right on through here without telling us anything," Deidara said, completely ignoring Sakura as she sat on the only vacant couch, followed by Hidan.

"She got herself fucking lost on Orochimaru's floor," he said with a sigh, spreading his arms out and leaning back on the couch, not even paying attention to Sakura, who was right next to him. Deidara laughed, both at the situation, and at what Hidan had said.

"I guess you won't be going there again, will you?" he asked, finally looking at Sakura, but she was still focused on Hidan.

"That was an entire floor?" she asked, voice full of shock. Hidan looked at her, eyebrows raised.

"Yea. You didn't notice?" Sakura just shook her head wordlessly. Deidara and Kisame shook their heads, as did Pein and Konan. Kakuzu and Zetsu just remained in silence.

"Zetsu said there was someone else here. Do you know who it was?" Pein suddenly asked, turning to both Sakura and Hidan.

"Yes. Kabuto. Well, Kabuto and Orochimaru." Hidan said, shrugging. Kisame and Deidara each made faces, and Pein sighed.

"Both of them?" he asked, sounding incredibly impatient. "I thought Sasuke had killed Orochimaru."

"He did," Sakura said. "Kabuto melded himself with Orochimaru."

"Ew," was all Deidara said.

Hidan snorted. "Like you're one to talk. You have mouths on your hands and chest," Deidara opened his mouth like he was about to say something, but Pein held up a hand, silencing him.

"So what happened down there?" he asked, looking more at Sakura now.

"I had been wandering through the halls, exploring, and got lost about an hour in. I went into Orochimaru's floor, though I didn't know it used to be his, and started hearing...a voice. The atmosphere didn't exactly help my paranoia, and I began to panic. I ran into a room, and he was in there. He had lured me in there," her voice took on a fierceness as she thought back on it in disgust. "He talked to me for a little bit, telling me how he didn't want me here. When I proved to be…difficult, Orochimaru got impatient, and he threatened me. Then Hidan and Itachi came in, Itachi put him under an illusion, and he took off." She shrugged. "That's pretty much it,"

Pein nodded, then was silent. After a couple minutes, Sakura excused herself, and headed off for her bedroom. When she got in, she collapsed onto the bed, exhausted. As she began to relax a little, she began to think back on her encounter with Kabuto and Orochimaru. Why had she implied that she didn't want to leave? It was very obvious that she did. They were the ones responsible for countless deaths, including Gaara's. A humorless smile touched her lips. How many times had that thought, and the one with them going after Naruto, passed through her head in these past couple of weeks?

It was pretty much the only excuse she had, besides the fact that they were S-class criminals, and it was starting to wear thin. Against her better judgment, she was beginning to care. Something she had been terrified of from the very instant she had woken up. Sakura knew herself far too well. Her heart was too soft. She cared about nearly everybody she came into contact with once she got to know them. For her, her whole existence seemed to be rotating around love and compassion. It was as if she couldn't live without it. Whenever she tried to put up a wall and hide behind it, a little bit of her began dying until she finally decided to open up.

"Stupid, masochistic fool," she muttered to herself, getting up and wandering over to the balcony doors she had discovered behind some drapes the first day she was there. This had been her place to stand and think. Sometimes she would even go outside if it was clear, unlike it had been for the past week.

With a sigh, she looked out into the gray, ominous clouds. Judging from how cold it was, if it decided to rain, it was going to snow. Sakura liked the snow. Some people found it surprising, considering her bright and optimistic personality, but she loved it. Not that she hated the sun, she also loved it, but snow was just so pure and innocent. A laugh brightened her somber features for a moment as she remembered that that was how many people described her. The laugh faded. She wasn't innocent. Naïve sometimes, but most certainly not pure and innocent. Pulling herself away from not yet healed wounds, Sakura began to think about what she was going to do about the Akatsuki.

Keep your friends close but your enemies closer. Wasn't that the term? If she couldn't get away from here, maybe she could just get to know them, and use it against them whenever she got the chance, if she got the chance. Something she would have to watch out for though, was getting to close. She couldn't afford to love them, and she already loved one of them. Tobi. He had found his way into her heart so damn easily that she didn't even notice it until she began thinking about it.

A curse found its way under her breath. At least she wouldn't have to worry about Kisame, Kakuzu and Zetsu. They never interacted with her, except Kisame, who she just ignored. Konan she would have trouble with, but Pein was fairly easy to get along with without caring about him too deeply. Deidara could be ok, but Hidan was beginning to show more to his personality, and she was beginning to feel more drawn to him. Then, of course, there was Itachi.

He was the one she was most worried about, because he posed the worst threat. Think of how easy it would be for her to confuse him with Sasuke. They looked so much alike, even acted a little alike. Somber and cool, almost to the point of being cold. Well…Itachi was fairly cold most of the time, unless he was annoyed. One of the big differences was the fact that Sasuke showed more emotion, laughing and smiling sometimes or making fun of Naruto. Tears began to well up.

All that had been relevant eight years ago. Who knew how Sasuke was now. Wiping her eyes furiously, Sakura stepped out into the cold and gave a shiver as the cold air hit her. Even after so many years had passed, her heart was still breaking at the thought of him. It was why she hadn't looked for anyone else. He had affected her so deeply that she couldn't let go. A frown crossed her features now as she looked out onto the dark landscape with determination. She was going to find out all she could about the people here, then use it to get Sasuke back. Exhausted now, she went back inside, closed the door, and crawled into the bed.

In his own room, Itachi rubbed his eyes, trying to relieve the pain and fogginess that, though it was becoming natural, never failed to irritate him. As he did this, he also tried to figure out a way to get to Kabuto and Orochimaru. He had figured that Orochimaru would find some way out of death, but he hadn't thought that maybe he had heard about the kunoichi being here. Now that he had come here and tried to take her, Itachi knew that he would come back again, and try harder. Therefore, he needed to think of a way to make sure she was watched at all times. He sighed a little. She was not going to like this. From what he had seen of her, he knew that she would fight tooth and nail to keep her privacy.

It was amazing that she hadn't already tried to get away yet. Then again, she was probably smart enough to know that it was futile. She was remarkably intelligent after all. He could always see her brain working, trying to find some way out, then frowning when she realized the plan she had been thinking of wouldn't work. Of all the women he had met, she was the most interesting. Always unpredictable, but he hoped to break through that and understand her enough to predict what she was going to do. Or…he realized that she had been the first one in years that had been able to surprise him. For the many years since he had killed his clan, he had merely been living to survive, working towards the only goal he had. Then she had come along and thrown his habitual life slightly upside down.

No, he might want to understand why she did what she did, but as to what she was going to do, it was much more amusing to guess. However, once Pein got the Jinchuuriki, and Itachi began his plan, she would have to leave. Not that it mattered. By the time they did get the Jinchuuriki, his life would have run its course. For most people, that was an incredibly sombering thought, sometimes depressing. For Itachi, it was merely a fact.

He had planned it this way from the beginning, and his plan was about to be set in motion. Finishing this thought, Itachi went back to figuring out a way to keep Orochimaru away, but found it more difficult than normal. His thoughts kept straying back to the curiously distracting, pink-haired kunoichi in the room next to him. Thoughts of his old life and humanity began to crawl back to his mind like some half-dead animal. The times he spent with his brother, the only times he truly smiled and laughed, were somehow seeping back to him, and he realized, he almost wanted them back. To be able to not hide, let go again. Live. But it was impossible. Giving up on trying to plan, Itachi went to his own bed, and tried to get some sleep, distinguishing the candles he had lit with a wave of his hand.

The next morning, Sakura awoke with a start. Someone was in her room, calling her name, softly. When she was actually able to see, she realized that it was Itachi, standing in the middle of her room, looking down at her. She groaned, rubbing her eyes to clear them from the sleep and trying to wake up her mind. Deep sleep was not exactly an easy thing to come out of.

"What is it?" she asked on a yawn, still not looking at him.

"I'm going on a mission today," was all he said. Sakura waited a couple moments for him to speak again, but he didn't. Opening one eye, she looked at him.

"Is that all?" she asked, finally freeing the other eye of her hand and looking at him fully. Itachi waited, watching her. She looked remarkably frazzled. The state of her hair and the way she was tangled in her sheets told him that she must have been tossing and turning all night. Strangely enough, it was actually quite alluring, her in her messy, disorganized state. Once she raised an eyebrow, he spoke.

"You're coming with me,"

"What?!" on her exclamation, Sakura jumped up onto her elbow, and slipped right off the bed, becoming an unrecognizable heap of blankets. Itachi watched amused as she tried to free herself, and failed. Taking pity, he walked over, and untangled the blankets to free her head, which was now in complete disarray, it was comical. He smirked. Seeing his smirk, she frowned. Fiercely grabbing the blankets, she lifted herself back on the bed to sit, pulled her short hair back, and looked at him with what very much resembled a pout. "What do you mean I'm coming with you?"

He tried so hard not to chuckle. "Exactly what I said. I need to go on a mission, and since you are technically my captive, you are going to come with me. So, you need to pack for a week's worth of provisions, and be ready to leave in about two hours." He stood for a moment, watching for her reaction. She merely gaped, shocked, then huffed.

Untangling herself from the blankets, she got up and shuffled off towards the bathroom. Taking that as compliance, Itachi walked out of the room to wait for her. After he had left, Sakura stood in the bathroom, not quite sure what to make of the situation. She was angry, the was a definite, but she wasn't quite sure whether it was the fact that she was going on the mission, the fact that he had ordered her to go, or the fact that he had smirked at her, very nearly laughing. The whole thing was so confusing, and Sakura just gave up thinking about it.

About an hour later, she came down, still slightly steaming, and put her bag in the living room, ignoring the smirks of Deidara and Hidan.

"So he got you back huh?" Deidara asked, still smirking, even when she turned a dangerous glare his way.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you fucking managed to stay fucking alive when you had been acting so fucking bold, and then, you fucking run off, so he and I had to fucking go and fucking look for you. Most fucking people would not still be fucking alive," Hidan's smirk widened as her glare got increasingly colder. Not saying a word, she turned away from them, and walked into the kitchen. Barely resisting the urge to groan, she walked past Itachi, who had a peach in his hand, and went to Tobi.

"Tobi made some breakfast for Sakura-chan in case she had some time before she had to go on her mission!" Tobi gestured toward the elaborate set of food on the counter behind Itachi. There were all sorts of pastries and fruits, along with eggs and sausage.

"Oh Tobi. Thank you very much, but I won't be able to finish it all," Sakura looked at the food, not sure what to think. Itachi remained quiet, but Sakura was sure that he was entirely too amused for her satisfaction.

"That's ok! Tobi will just save it for when Sakura-chan comes back!"

"We won't be back for another week Tobi," Itachi said, still looking at Sakura, who had begun glaring back at him. Tobi's posture fell a little.

"Oh. That's ok. I'll just have Senpai and the others eat it. I'm sure they'd be happy too. Tobi never has any leftovers," he took some of the fruit, and exited the kitchen, still slightly slouching. Sakura looked after him, feeling horrible.

"He'll be fine. You're just the only one who actually converses with him and is nice to him," Itachi said, banana now miraculously gone. Sakura gazed for a moment at his empty hand, then back at the food.

"He said he like you," she said softly, going over and picking up one of the pastries. After jumping up on the counter opposite Itachi, she watched him.

"I don't insult him," he said, just as softly as she had, his face impassive. Sakura shrugged, nibbling on her pastry. She noticed Itachi turn slightly and pick up another peach.

"You don't like pastries, do you?" she was surprised at her own question, but more surprised when Itachi looked at her, taken aback.

"I've never had one," he said, voice sounding almost cautious. Knowing that she was going against her vow not to get too close, she walked over, reached behind him, and pulled out the most un-intimidating pastry on the counter, holding it out for him. He looked at it, then her, eyebrows raised.

"Go on! It's not going to kill you," she said, voice taking on that of an exasperated mother. He continued to watch it, and her warily. She sighed, then replaced the peach he had been holding with the pastry. His eyes followed the pastry, then went back to her as she jumped back on the counter she had been sitting on. If he was being perfectly honest with himself, he would say that he had no idea what to do. Here was this woman, who made no point to hide the fact that she hated him, acting perfectly friendly, trying to get him to eat a pastry. However, Itachi was not being honest with himself. He just continued to think that it was the sight of the pastry slightly sickening him that caused him to pause.

"Oh, come on! If you've never had one, you can't say you don't like them, and you shouldn't act like it's going to bite you," Itachi's brows drew together slightly as he sent a small glare her way. He was saved actually having to bite into it, however, when Pein walked in.

"I would like you two to leave early. It sounds like there's a lot of trouble stirring over there, and it could very easily get to us," he looked at Sakura, then Itachi who nodded. Giving a nod of his own to both of them, he walked out. Sakura hopped off the counter, and walked out. Itachi put down the pastry and followed her, slightly relieved that Pein had walked in. He wasn't sure if he was ready for anything sweet yet.

A.N. Yay!! I managed to finish a slightly longer chapter! Lol. I've been trying so hard to write longer chapters, but they seem to shrink when I put them on the site. Thank you for the reviews and criticism, I appreciate both. I actually took one of your suggestions, and toned down Hidan's language. I hadn't really been thinking when I was writing this, considering I mostly do it at night, or school, (when my brain is frying), and end up writing some things that aren't exactly like the characters. So, sorry for that, and his language will be toned down from now on. Still not exactly good, and there will be worse language when he's angry, but I did my best to make it a little better. On another note, I was watching some more of the older Naruto episodes, with the Uchiha past, and was also reading the most recent chapters in the Shippuden manga, and some of my theories have changed a little bit. Then again, I think I've pretty much given up on theories, but in any case, some of my original thoughts for this story are going to change, but it won't be drastic, and the characters will stay the same. I would like to thank all of you again for the reviews and constructive criticism. Keep it coming! Slant agat! --Kat


	6. Chapter 6

Sakura was normally a fairly conversational person. She loved to talk to people, and have them talk back. It was when she felt most comfortable. Therefore, the fact that there was complete silence for the two-and-a-half days it took her and Itachi to get to the little village where he was supposed to do…whatever it was he was supposed to do, made Sakura go dangerously close to insanity. It was maddening the way he was perfectly comfortable to sit in silence, not even trying to bring up a conversation. That wasn't the only maddening thing. His pace was inhuman. Only by sheer determination and bull-headed stubbornness was Sakura able to keep up with him until they got to the village. When they got there however, and got their rooms, she collapsed immediately upon entering her own. Her legs were weak, she coughed every time she took a huge breath, which she needed to do because of how winded she was after their journey, then pretending like she was just fine once they got into the inn. All in all, Sakura was just plain exhausted. Deciding that sleeping fully clothed would not be very comfortable, she pulled off her boots, then proceeded to take off the jacket she had been wearing. She had gotten very lucky in the fact that Itachi hadn't forced her to wear and Akatsuki robe. He had merely said that they could remain with the truth; she was his captive.

So, she just had to take off the boots and the jacket, and then a shirt that she had put on over a camisole because it was cold. After finally taking off all the larger pieces of clothing, she flopped back on the bed, and was asleep the instant her head touched the pillow. Itachi had gone into his own room, and had also gotten rid of the heavier articles of clothing, which included his Akatsuki robe, and his shoes. Unlike Sakura, however, he did not go to bed, but went next door to her room. Pein had ordered him to try and get her to take a look at his eyes while they were on the mission so that way they could come back, and maybe Itachi could do some more of the work that Pein wanted him to. Though he hadn't told Pein, Itachi knew that it was hopeless to try and heal his eyes.

Itachi was not too surprised to see her in bed, out like a light. He had been surprised that she had kept up with his pace without complaining or asking to stop. On the contrary, she remained by his side, showing no signs of exhaustion. However, he had figured that she was faking it. Even Kisame complained about his "obscenely inhuman pace." With every intention of going back out and waiting a couple hours, Itachi turned, but stopped when he heard her moan. It was a desperate, pleading moan, like she was begging. Slightly interested, Itachi turned back to her, and walked over to the bed. Looking down at her with a frown, he noticed a slight sheen of sweat on her face and neck, and she was incredibly pale. However, he knew this was not sickness. It was fear. Something in her dreams was causing her a great amount of fear, even more than he had ever felt from her.

Suddenly, she began tossing and turning, tears rolling down her face. Words were coming out of her mouth, but they were quick and slurred. He did manage to catch "no," and "stay away," but that was all he could manage to discern from her babble. Her breathing became hard and labored, and she was tangling herself badly in the sheets. Deciding that it might be best for her health, Itachi reached down and took her by the shoulder. If he had been expecting anything, it would not have been her reaction. She cried out, a frightened sob, slapped his hand away, backing up against the wall her bed was against. His tactics worked though, for her eyes flew open, and she stared up at him, looking like a rabbit cornered by a fox.

After a couple of minutes, she seemed to awaken fully, and sat up against the wall, hands covering her face. There was silence for a while longer, Itachi just watching her as she began to breathe normally and regain her composure.

"Did you need something?" she asked, removing her hands and looking up at him, face impassive, eyes blank. The look bothered him, but he didn't fully understand why. Yet another mystery the beautiful kunoichi brought to him.

"I thought that now might be a good time for you to look at my eyes," he said, just as stoically as she had done. A humorless laugh left her lips as she got up from the bed and took a few clips out of her bag and put her hair up.

"I think we both know how pointless that would be," she said with a sigh, now rummaging through her bag, looking for something. Itachi watched her for a moment, slightly surprised, though none of it showed on his face.

"How would you know that?" he asked, giving nothing of his surprise in his voice. Sakura looked back at him over her shoulder, a brow raised.

"Your fight with Sasuke a few years ago was not kept just between you two," she said, going back to her rummaging. "When he got out and told his…team…the news spread. However," she looked back at again, a smile on her face, "only some of us had the ears to hear it." Apparently finding what she needed, she stood up, something in her hand, and began to walk towards the bathroom. He caught her arm, looking into her eyes, which had widened slightly in surprise.

"How much did you hear?" he asked, voice lowering dangerously. She merely narrowed her eyes defiantly.

"I heard all about your clan's past. All about Madara, and how he helped you. I also heard about the secret behind yours and Sasuke's eyes. About how you were going to kill him, how you lost it in front him, finally showing your true colors," her voice had also lowered, and dropped a couple of degrees. He let go of her, brows furrowed slightly, but other than that, his face remained stoic.

"So why do you not seem afraid of me, and even go as far as to be occasionally friendly? If I'm so insane, why do you not distance yourself from me?"

Sakura's lips turned again into a smile, but it held no warmth. "You're still human. Every human is in some way insane. Besides, there's probably some reason behind it that you haven't let anyone know about," with a shrug, she continued to the bathroom, but this time, Itachi let her. Though he wouldn't admit it, he was too shocked to stop her, or to make any movement at all.

The next morning found Sakura highly confused. She didn't know what this mission was going to entail, but she knew it had to be something good. Not only that, but the incredible desire to be back home was not as strong nor ardent as it had been before. It wasn't as though she were enjoying herself, and she was still trying to find an opportunity to bolt, but she didn't feel like going into a corner and huddling in a ball until someone finally forced her to get up anymore. Still in her state of puzzlement, she went downstairs where Itachi was sitting at a table, seemingly already done with his breakfast. Slightly miffed at this fact, Sakura sat down opposite him, glaring a little. His brow rose, but he remained quiet.

After ordering food for herself, then finishing it, she looked at Itachi, resting her chin on crossed fingers.

"So what are we doing today?" she asked, voice conversational. For a moment, she thought she saw Itachi's lips curl up a bit, but then his face returned stoic, but a chill ran down her spine anyway. She knew that anytime he smiled, or was tempted to, she never ended up the better.

"We are going to a club," he said, voice also conversational, but she could swear she heard a bit of sardonic triumph hidden there.

"Really? When, and what for?" she asked, sounding innocently curious, even though her skin was crawling with anxiety, and her nerves were screaming at her to run.

"To visit an old friend of mine, and yours," his lips did curl a bit this time. "We need to go out and get some suitable clothing. I will accompany you to a store, then we will come back here, and you will wait while I go out. Is that understood?" Sakura was a little take aback at how quickly his voice turned serious. She merely nodded, and when he stood up, she followed.

Now, to make one thing clear, Sakura was like almost any other warm-blooded female; she loved to shop. She and Ino used to clean out their wallets in five minutes in one clothing store whenever they would go out on an outing. However, she wasn't sure if she could really consider this shopping. Following Itachi with a feeling of utmost dread, she went into a store, which looked like one of the ones she wouldn't have stepped into even when she did have a large sum of money, and was immediately ordered to go find something that would, and quoting her gorgeous but intimidating companion, "seduce any man, while still not looking like you stood out on the street with a red light every night." Not even having the time to be appalled, shocked and insulted, which she was, she was shooed away to go find clothes, all the while under his watchful gaze.

Even with all the pressure and humiliation, she had managed to find a handful of things, then went in to try them on. After a few tries and misses, she found one dress that she was sure would knock even an Uchiha dead on his feet. Her one mistake though, was saying that she had found something. If she had kept her mouth shut, she wouldn't have had to go out, on his orders, and make sure that it was suitable. Of course, suitable in Itachi's eyes was probably very different from any other man's opinion of suitable. Once she walked out though, she was fairly sure that she had hit the mark. He had paused for a moment, then his eyes had traveled down the length of her legs, and back up to her eyes. Though she was sure this was a fairly good thing, she didn't like the way the chills, not caused by fear, skittered up, then down her spine.

He also didn't like the chills that ran down his arms when she walked out. The silky material had all the colors of a sunset, which matched her hair perfectly. It was strapless, with a corset around her waist, coming up just beneath her breasts, and a skirt that flowed away from her legs, shorter in the front and cascading to a longer train in back. All in all, the picture was enough to knock a man dead, and Itachi was just as much a man as the clerks in the store gawking at the beautiful pink-haired woman standing before him. A sudden possessive feeling came over him as he saw some of the clerks actually go up to her and tell her how gorgeous the dress was on her, and that she should buy it. She smiled alluringly at all of them, though she probably didn't realize how much she was dazzling the poor guys.

Itachi's small cough brought her attention back to him. She frowned, crossing her arms over her arms as he nodded his approval, then gestured for her to go back and change. Turning with a small huff, she went back in, leaving quite a few of the men disappointed. Itachi watched, amused as they went off, helping the other clients with an air of reluctance. When Sakura came back out though, they automatically flocked back to her, asking if she needed any more help, until Itachi came up, saying they were done, and steering her away, his hand on the small of her back. Though she looked very much like she wanted to hit him, she didn't do anything, but once they paid for the dress and walked out, she kept at least a foot distance away from him.

"You might want to stay closer to me. There are a lot of dangerous people here, and you could very easily get kidnapped,"

"Like I haven't already," she muttered under her breath. Itachi just raised his brow as she moved closer to him anyway.

Upon getting back to the hotel room, Itachi made sure that she went into her room, then went off, telling her to get ready, then going off on his own. Frustrated as all Hell, Sakura went into the bathroom to shower first, then put her hair up in a messy bun with her pins, and put on what she hoped was a seductive shadow around her lids, and a dark red lipstick. After putting on some lotion Konan had left her, she put on the dress, and a pair of heels. Looking in the mirror, she decided that she had done a good job. Even Ino would have been proud. Sakura clutched her chest where a sudden pang constricted her heart. Tears threatened her carefully applied make-up as memories and a painful longing filled her. She missed her friends, and the pain she was beginning to feel was almost unbearable.

Sakura was not a solitary person. Even if she didn't like someone all that much, she still wanted to talk to them and interact. She needed that closeness, and she had been so cut off from actual human interaction, that it was not wonder she had flirted with the men in the shop. Her heart had longed for some type of emotion and closeness. Even now, she wanted someone there, just to have that physical closeness, and feel the normal human warmth and emotion. Though the tears didn't fall, she did collapse to the ground, her chest constricting so badly that she couldn't breathe. Dry sobs began to escape her, but she still couldn't take in a breath. Then, there was suddenly a warm hand on her back, and an arm around her waist, holding her up.

Not looking up to see who it was, nor really caring, Sakura leaned into the person, her eyes closed, and tried to draw in comfort from the body warmth. Her heart began to slow down, and she was able to take slow, shallow breaths. Whoever was behind her just held her, the arm around her waist tightening so that she was pulled up firm against a strong, solid chest. After a couple moments, she was breathing normally, though her body was shaking slightly, and she finally opened her eyes and looked up at the person holding her. She wasn't too surprised to see Itachi's impassive face looking down at her. However, she was surprised at the gentle firmness with which he had held her. He too, was surprised.

When he had been walking to his room, he had heard a thud in her room, and had looked in to see what had happened. Seeing her on the floor, gasping for breath and sobbing, he had thought that maybe she had been attacked. He had gone to her, putting an arm around her waist, intending to get her standing so he could ask what was wrong, when she had suddenly leaned into him. This had thrown his balance off, so he wasn't able to get up, and she seemed to calm down, though he couldn't understand why. So, he stayed where he was until she calmed down all the way. When she looked up at him, her eyes were slightly glazed over, and sad. Without saying anything, he pulled her to her feet, using both her weight and his to get himself up as well, and led her over to the bed where she sunk down, still shaking slightly.

"What happened?" he asked after a couple moments. She laughed a little, and he could hear some self disgust in her voice.

"Just a little panic attack," she said, rubbing on of her hands over her neck. With a sigh, she stood up, legs still feeling weak, but she remained strong as she looked up at him. The fierce look in her eyes surprised him more than anything. It seemed that she wanted to forget about what had happened, and wanted to seem defiant. Getting over the startled state he had been in when he first walked in, Iachi took the time she stood quietly to look over her.

Why was it that women seemed to know just the right thing to do to themselves to make a man's mouth go dry? The dress had been good enough, but with the slightly tousled hair, and the shadowed eyes and dark lips, the delayed hormones began to work their magic on Itachi. She seemed to notice his observation, for she stiffened, then walked past him.

"So when are we leaving?" she asked, her back to him as she got out a small handbag.

"Soon. I need to go change, then I will come and get you," was his answer as he walked to the door, then out of it, shutting the door behind him. Once he was gone, Sakura sighed, relaxing, though her heart was still skittering like crazy. Why had his looks made her stomach knot, and heart stop? It was ridiculous. Deciding to ignore it, Sakura drew herself up to her full height, and made sure to look as alluring as possible. If he was going to send her nerves into some crazy spiral, then she would just have to return the gesture. She knew when he walked into the room that she might actually be able to succeed. With this triumphant thought in mind, she walked out of the room, following Itachi out of the inn.

His stomach had knotted bad enough before in the inn, but as Itachi and Sakura walked to the club, Itachi was sure that his stomach had become as hard as steel. With her walking beside him, her scent was able to wind itself around him, so he had no choice but to breathe it in. He tried breathing only through his nose, but he could taste it. The woman was going to drive him crazy. Luckily, they arrived at the club very shortly, and the air was soon filled with a myriad of perfumes, colognes, and sweat.

"What are we doing here exactly?" Sakura asked, voice raised slightly over the loud music and chatter. Itachi glanced down at her, then looked back out at the crowd.

"We are visiting an old friend of yours, actually. One of the medics you managed to smuggle out of the hideout near your village," he looked down at her again, the look plainly saying how much trouble she had caused. "He is a lecherous fool. So, we are going to act as if you are with me, but want to be with him. I will go off at one point, in which time you will lure him away from the crowd, in any way you possibly can, then I will get the information I need," Without giving Sakura any time to ask questions, or protest, he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her out onto the crowded dance floor. Once they were in the middle, he pulled her up close to him so there was no space between them at all, and began swaying to the music.

"What are you doing?" Sakura asked, breathless. The instant he had pulled her up against him, all oxygen, and therefore brainpower, were gone. Itachi, noticing this, smirked slightly.

"Keeping up appearances. You should do so as well," This last line he spoke right into her ear. Shaking off the shiver that raced down her spine, Sakura began to sway with Itachi as well, heat rising into her face thanks to a mixture of the actual heat in the room, and the fire that was slowly growing in the pit of her stomach at being so close to the stunning Uchiha.

Sakura wasn't the only one being affected. Itachi too felt a fire. With her so close, her scent was intoxicating. Their bodies were pressed so close, their faces a mere inch away. However, Sakura turned her head to the side, baring her neck. Making it seem like he was still keeping up appearances, Itachi lowered his head and buried his face at the base of her throat, his nose brushing her collar bone. He heard her sharp intake of breath, and nearly chuckled with triumph. From the moment they stepped out of the inn, he knew she was going to try and get to him, and had become determined to be the one that got to her. So far, he was winning, though, she was doing her own fair share.

Itachi was not sure if he was relieved when he saw the medic walk by the bar, eyes on Itachi and Sakura. Lucky for Pein, the medic had never seen Itachi before, it had been too dark for him to see much when Pein brought him in to examine Itachi's eyes. Therefore, it was easier to be out in the open and get the medic without causing too much of a stir. Another advantage, the medic had seen Sakura, recognized her, and lust had filled his eyes. Though there was a twinge of disgust and annoyance, Itachi knew this would only make the mission go smoother. Breaking away from Sakura, but keeping his arm around her waist, he steered her in the direction of the bar, discretely pointing out the medic, who had just sat at the end of the bar. Nodding to show that she had recognized him, and knew what she was supposed to do, she followed Itachi's lead to the bar. After ordering a couple drinks, Itachi excused himself, and stepped outside.

Acting incredibly bored and miserable, Sakura sighed, then looked over at the medic, slightly relieved that he was one of the younger and not so unfortunate looking people she had rescued from Akatsuki. The man seemed to recognize her as well, for his went wide, and he suddenly moved closer to her.

"You're that woman that rescued me from Akatsuki not that long ago!" he said, excitement plain in his face and voice.

"Yes! I was wondering if you were going to recognize me!" Sakura said, also scooting closer, pretending like she was as ridiculously excited as he was.

"What are you doing here? Are you with that man that just walked out?" Though the question seemed innocent, Sakura knew the meaning was much more tainted. It was fairly obvious that she was "with" Itachi. They had made sure to make that clear as day.

"Yes," she made her voice drop slightly with a note of disappointment. The man seemed to notice, and perked up. "He just randomly decides to walk out on me like that, and I don't know when he'll turn up again," she rolled her eyes and gave a dramatic sigh just to add to thee whole picture. Then, shaking the bangs out of her face, she turned to him with a seductive smile. "Did your date leave you too?" Her lowered voice had the affect she had been hoping for. The man was almost drooling.

"No. I didn't come with a date," he said, moving closer to her, eyes traveling between her mouth and chest. Resisting the urge to hit him as hard as possible, Sakura leaned closer, her lips next to his ear.

"Well then, let's say we get out of here. We can just take the back door. I'm sure my date is with another woman anyway. He won't know the difference," After a not from the medic man, Sakura got up, and led the man out the back door, hoping that Itachi would intervene before the man could touch her.

Unfortunately, no such luck. The man was so fast that he had his mouth on hers, and his hands roaming her body before the door was even closed all the way. Trying not to act as disgusted and revolted as she felt, Sakura let him push her against the alley wall, and opened her eyes, searching for Itachi. She didn't have long to wait. The moment the man began to undo her dress, Itachi stepped out from the darkness, and grabbed the man by the shoulder, tearing him away from Sakura. Without giving the man any time for protest, Itachi threw him against the opposite wall so he slumped down to the ground, blood trickling down his face.

"Tell me what you know about the Sharingan," Itachi said, voice menacing as he crouched to force the man to face him.

"I-I don't know much. I j-just studied one man's eyes for a-a little while. All I know is…is that there is another…stage to the normal Sharingan," the medic seemed absolutely terrified; Sakura almost felt sorry for him.

"What do you know about Akatsuki?" The man paused, his eyes widening as he finally realized who Itachi was. Then he looked around Itachi to stare at Sakura in disbelief.

"You rescued me from them! How could you join them?!!"

"She didn't have much of a choice," Itachi said, gaining the man's attention again. "You still haven't answered my question,"

"I-I…nothing! I was captured by the fish man, and was kept in a dark cell until I was brought to look at the man's eyes. Then she found me and got me out!" He pointed at Sakura accusingly, as if trying to get himself out of trouble. Itachi nodded and stood up. Sakura felt a surge of chakra, then the man went limp.

"What did you do?" she asked, rushing forward and checking the man's pulse. It was still.

"I killed him. He knew too much."

"He said he didn't know anything!" Sakura turned around, standing so that she could be more level with Itach as she yelled.

"He lied. He managed to escape right before you took him. Wandering around Akatsuki headquarters can teach you a lot," he gave her a look that she couldn't understand, then began to walk out of the alley. Sakura remained frozen where she was, staring down at the ground, when she was pulled away by Itachi's arm on her waist. She fought to get away, but Itachi's grip remained firm.

"Let me go! There's no reason for you to hold me anymore!" she continued to fight, but Itach's grip did not slacken.

"If I let you go, you will try to run. I'm not stupid," he glanced down at her as she stilled, noticing the coldness in his voice. After a couple moments of silence, he spoke again. "You were very convincing in there, but there were some parts of your story I didn't appreciate,"

"Oh? And what parts were those?" Sakura's voice was dripping with sarcasm and disdain. Itachi glanced down at her, and the look caused Sakura's blood to freeze.

"I would never leave my woman alone," he said, then looked back at the road as they came upon the inn. Chills raced up and down Sakura's arms, and when she was finally released to her room, she collapsed, her knees to shaky and weak to hold her.

A.N. I'm so sorry that it took me so long to update!!!! bows repeatedly I have had so much going on with school, and personal stuff, that my mind's just been scattered, and I haven't had much time to write. Hopefully, after this chapter, things will begin pick up a bit, both in the updating, and the story. I wanted to go a bit slower because I like to put in details and take time for human emotions to develop and everything. With all that said, I leave you with this chapter, and the next one should be out fairly soon. Thank you so much for the reviews, they really keep me going. When I go on my email, and see the reviews, I feel so good, and get so much more determined to write and get my story out to you. So, thank you again, and I also appreciate the constructive, and I repeat, constructive criticism. It helps to know what you think. Slant agat! --Kat


	7. Chapter 7

When Sakura woke up the morning after the mission, her head hurt, her muscles ached, and her heart was in utter turmoil. She had helped Itachi, an S-class criminal, and Sasuke's hated older brother, with one of his missions. To make matters worse, she hadn't even thought to protest. Just going along with the flow, she helped him find, and kill a man that she had previously helped get away from Akatsuki. Not only that, but she was fairly sure now that she was attracted to the elder of the two gorgeous Uchiha brothers. There was no way she could feel all that electricity and heat just by being close to him, and not be attracted. This of course, made her feel even more like crap.

After her shower, she got dressed, and headed down to the inn dining area, not sure whether to expect Itachi or not. Much to her relief, he wasn't there. Taking a seat by the window, Sakura looked around the room. There weren't many people there. A few seats away from her, a young couple sat together, looking far too much in love to be allowed.

Sakura smiled though, she knew what it was like to be that much in love. Turning away from the couple, she saw a little girl and boy eating with their parents, giggling with their heads drawn close together. Mischief was in their eyes. Her smile growing wider, Sakura's eyes turned to the last couple in the room. They were both ancient, older than most people Sakura had ever met, or even seen. Nonetheless, they had as much love as the young couple sitting lose to Sakura.

Once she had gotten her order, and had more time to wait, Sakura continued to watch the people around her, growing more engrossed, and lonelier by the minute. These people were so obviously close to each other, and were so wrapped up in their own little worlds. Sakura became so enwrapped herself, though in her own thoughts, that she didn't notice the little boy and girl sneak away from their parents and trot over to her.

"Excuse me, Lady," Sakura started and looked down at the little girl who had spoken.

"Yes? Can I help you?" Placing as gentle a smile as she could, Sakura gazed at the two children, both of whom were blushing slightly.

"Well…we thought you were really pretty, and you looked really sad and lonely over here. My brother thought it might be nice if we gave you this," the little girl brought out the hands she had been holding behind her back, revealing a beautiful white rose with pink in the deepest folds of the petals. Feeling ridiculously touched, Sakura took the delicate flower, and cupped the little girl's face, then the boy's.

"Thank you so very much," She was about to say something else, but the mother had turned around, and called the children back with an apologetic smile to Sakura, who just shook her head, making clear that she didn't mind. However, the children obeyed their mother, and skipped back over to their parents. Holding the rose as gently and lovingly as she could, Sakura waited for her food, alone once again.

"That flower suits you," Ok, not so alone.

"My mother always said that the white rose and newly bloomed cherry blossom suited me best," Sakura said, absent-mindedly, trying not to look up at Itachi, who had just sat down. Her eyes widened slightly as his hand appeared in her vision, taking the flower in his own hand. She looked up, surprised, and was only stunned speechless as he leaned gracefully across the table and put the flower behind her ear, resting lightly in one of the folds of her pinned-up hair.

Lucky for Sakura, Itachi did not expect her to say anything, and let her sit in silence. Once the waitress came back with Sakura's food, Sakura was almost desperately relieved for the slight distraction. However, then the waitress began flirting as she asked for Itachi's order. Nearly smirking as Itachi told her he wasn't hungry, Sakura started in on her own food. The waitress, a little less forward than before, continued to ask if Itachi was thirsty, to which he again replied no. Finally giving up, the waitress left, face slightly fallen with disappointment. Noticing Sakura's lighter mood, Itachi asked her what had caused the sudden change in her persona.

"Did you see how dazzled she was by you?" Sakura asked between mouthfuls.

"Dazzled? Most people stay away from me,"

"Well, you're not brooding or cold right now. Therefore, most women will be struck by your looks, only intensified by your tolerable mood," There was a pause as he studied her while she ate.

"You think I'm good looking?" Though his tone was innocent enough, the slight twitch of his lips gave him away. Sakura choked on the water she had been swallowing, and had to spend a minute coughing so she could breathe again.

"Th-that's not what I meant!" she sputtered, gasping. "I was only talking about what other women would see,"

"Hm." Was the only response she got. Slightly frustrated, and with a sore throat, Sakura finished her breakfast, then both she and Itachi went upstairs, packed, then went back down to check out.

The way back to the hideout started out to bee just the same as the trip down. Itachi's psychotic pace, the silence, and Sakura doing her best to keep her sanity, which was proving to be difficult. On the second day, hours away from getting back, it started to snow, adding to the layer of white that had already accumulated on the ground. At first, Itachi and Sakura paid no heed to it, they could still go around easily enough. However, after a half hour, their vision was completely obscured by white. Nearly causing Sakura to run into him, Itachi stopped. He looked around, realizing that there was too much snow to see any of the branches, or even determine what direction they were going.

"We're stopping," he said, before suddenly dropping from thee tree onto the ground. With a frustrated sigh, Sakura followed. When she got down to the ground, the snow was so bad, that she couldn't even see where Itachi had gone. Even more frustrated, she turned, trying to look around, but stepped on a patch off ice, and slipped. Fully expecting that she was going to have to catch herself once she hit the soft ground, she was surprised when and arm came out of nowhere and caught her by the waist.

Her breath hitched as she was suddenly pulled up into strong arms and secured against Itachi's warm body. She looked up into his face, which was slightly blurry thanks to all the snow catching on her eyelashes. He looked almost out of place in the complete white of the landscape. His dark beauty contrasted so greatly with the pure, innocent beauty surrounding them. While Sakura was contrasting him with the snow, Itachi was comparing it with Sakura. With her light pink hair, jade eyes, and pale skin, she fit in so perfectly with the pure light.

"I found a small cave nearby," he said, trying to get the previous thoughts out of his head, which was difficult with her fit so tightly in his arms. "We can stay there until this lightens up a little," Once she nodded, Itachi moved toward the cave, keeping her against him, making sure that she didn't get lost.

Right before they got to the mouth of the cave, a dozen or so figures appeared out of the snow. Six were taken out by traps that Itachi laid, but the rest advanced forward toward Itachi and Sakura. Letting go of Sakura, Itachi whispered one word in her ear before he launched into his own attack.

"Hunter nins,"

Barely having time to think, Sakura was automatically defending herself from the two who had gone around Itachi. Though it was hard to move through all the snow, Sakura managed to take them down, knocking them out with a couple of her punches. She looked around, saw Itachi getting rid of the last one, then choked as her wind pipe was suddenly cut off. Clawing at the arm around her throat, she heard a chuckle from behind her.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you Toots," A man's deep voice and breath blew across Sakura's ear, and as shivers went up her arms, she felt cold metal press against her throat as the arm moved down to her waist, pinning her arms against her side. As Sakura tried to kick the man between the legs, the kunai bit into her throat as it cut lightly across her neck, but still with enough sting to cause Sakura to cry out.

Hearing her cry, Itachi whirled around after putting another nin under an allusion, and felt his heart stop for a moment. The first thing he saw, was Sakura's pained face and blood dripping from her neck, staining her pale throat and making the black off her clothes darker and shiny. Rage burned as he saw that she was moving, but the man was still trying to hold her. Before the hunter nin could do anything, Itachi was in front of him, the Mangekyou burning in his eyes. Within seconds, the man had fallen, bringing Sakura down with him. Sakura struggled away from the corpse and stood up, bringing a hand up to her throat, trying to stop the blood seeping slowly from the shallow cut.

"Are you al-" Itachi's question was cut off as an explosive tag landed between them. Both of them jumped away as the tag exploded, but Sakura still got thrown back by the blast. Red and black spots danced in front of her eyes as she hit a tree, her head connecting with the bark with a sickening thud. As she fell, she saw the ice beneath her, coming upon her very quickly, and smiled. Frozen to death when she's been with the infamously cold Itachi for nearly a month. The irony was enough to bring her close to laughter, if she hadn't been practically unconscious. Her last thought before she hit the ice and fell into darkness, was how much she still had to learn about Itachi, and the fact that she would never see her friends again. Then…darkness.

Having incredibly fast reflexes, Itachi was able to jump back in time, and avoid the blast created by the explosion. Once he landed in one of the nearby trees, he began looking around for Sakura, noticing earlier that she hadn't been able to escape the blast and had been thrown back. With a sick feeling growing in his stomach, Itachi's eyes fell upon the ice, which now had a gaping hole in the middle. Going as fast as he possibly could, he raced to the ice, and looked down through the hole. There was only black. Sighing slightly, he took off his Akatsuki robe, and dove in the water. The farther down into the darkness he got, the more his stomach clenched. This woman was really becoming troublesome. Relief flowed through him as he saw her pink hair a couple feet away from him, then infuriation as he realized how relieved he actually was.

Once he got her out of the water, he first checked to see if she was breathing which, when he realized she wasn't, he had to fix by CPR. The instant his lips touched her cold ones, something in his stomach tightened, but he ignored it, focusing more on keeping her alive. After a couple tense moments, he got her breathing again, and began to look for any other injuries she might have sustained.

She had numerous cuts and bruises on her from falling through the ice, and there was the cut on her throat. With dread, he noticed the blood matted in her hair. He turned her head, revealing the fresh blood seeping from a gash on her head and staining the layer of snow red. Ripping a long section fro his robe, he tied it around her head to stop the bleeding, and wished he had learned more in medic jutsu.

It took a few minutes to bandage up the worst of her wounds, including a couple broken ribs. Finishing up the last couple of bandages, Itachi looked around, thanking some form of a god when he saw the cave a few yards away, nearly hidden by all the snow. Gingerly taking Sakura in his arms, he walked carefully to the cave, then deep inside it. He was pleased to find it uninhabited, and fairly warm. Upon setting Sakura down on the ground, his cloak beneath her, Itachi gathered up some wood, and created a fire. That job done, he set to stripping Sakura of her clothes, then stripped himself down to his pants only. Once he had brought out the sleeping bag Sakura had packed, he laid her in it, then lay next to her, bringing them close to the fire, and wrapping them both in the sleeping bag.

With his arms wrapped tightly around her, Itachi realized just how small Sakura really was. She had this tiny little frame, with a small amount of hard muscle surrounding it. Any percent of body fat needed for a person was almost gone, which left her slightly bony in places. He knew that a lot of this was due to the fact that ever since he had kidnapped her, he hadn't seen her eat that much. And when he asked Tobi, Tobi had said that she didn't eat much of the food he made for her. Konan had blamed it on the fact that she was being held captive, even if she was being treated fairly well, and that she was being held captive by Itachi, the cold, anit-social bastard, to quote Konan.

Well, when they got back to the hideout, he would make her eat more so that she wasn't so small and weak. Although, she hadn't exactly proven herself to be weak. The situation she was in now was due more to the hunter nins. Still, she was too small, and that was probably the reason for her condition getting worse. His arms tightened further as she began to tremble slightly, and he rolled over a fraction, covering her body with his while still not putting too much weight on her. He nearly laughed as he realized that her being so small and fragile didn't infuriate him as it normally would have. It made him more protective. Knowing that the path he was on right now was not exactly a good one, Itachi tried to put it out of his mind. Her being right underneath him didn't help at all.

With a frustrated sigh, Itachi rested his head next to hers, then jolted as her breath fanned across his ear and neck. Even when she was unconscious she could drive him crazy. He lifted his head, looking down at her. A pasty white had been painted on her skin thanks to the fever she was now getting, and her brow was drawn together in some form of pain. And yet…shaking his head a couple times, Itachi glared down at the sick kunoichi. Look what she was doing to him. Worrying, becoming protective, lusting after her, wanting her to stay…she was changing him in the worst way he could possibly change. With everything he had yet to do, he couldn't afford to let this weakness cloud his mind. But his determination still didn't put her out of his mind.

"Well, if I'm going to Hell, I might as well, go all the way," he whispered, leaning down and closing the gap between his face and hers. Her lips were still cold, but soft. He automatically felt heat rise in his stomach, and realized what a big mistake he had made. His thought had been to give in to his instincts for once, so that way he could get rid of them. However, one kiss was not going to do it, especially when the kissee was unconscious. Pulling away from her, frustrated, Itachi realized that she was going to be a long-term problem, and that he had to find a way to fight down the damn desires that were disrupting his life. As he worked on wiping his mind completely blank, Itachi closed his eyes, and forced himself to relax some of the muscles that were beginning to protest.

The next morning, Itachi packed everything up, dressed himself, wrapped Sakura tightly up in the sleeping bag, then headed out, the bundle that was Sakura held in his arms. It only took him a half hour to get back to the hideout, in which time Sakura seemed to take a turn for the worst. She had gotten paler, though he had thought that impossible, and fallen into a fit of violent trembling. As he touched his forehead to hers, he discovered that her fever had spiked again. Cursing under his breath, he walked in the door, and made a beeline for his room, completely ignoring the questions of everyone in the living room.

"Tobi! Get up here!" he called as he made his way upstairs. He heard Tobi call back up to him, but did not slow down until he had gotten into his room and had set Sakura down on his bed. Once Tobi was standing next to him, he turned, and knew at once that he wasn't looking at Tobi anymore.

"What happened to her?" a voice entirely different from Tobi's asked.

"We were ambushed by hunter nins, and she ended up falling through ice into a lake. She got sick, and hasn't taken any good turn so far," his voice was calm and casual.

"It looks like she'll live. She just seems to have a bad cold, maybe some hypothermia," the non-Tobi voice spoke coldly, and seemed to appraise Sakura in just the same manner. "If I didn't think she might still come in useful, I would have told you to just let her die," Itachi responded with a noncommittal "hm," and continued to take care of her. "Tobi" just watched, impassive. "As it is, I think she might be handy in gaining the Jinchuuriki, and your brother," he saw Itachi pause slightly at the mention of Sasuke, and smirked behind his mask. He knew that Itachi was still trying to forget the near-defeat he had had with his little brother nearly four years ago. And though he thought he knew why, he didn't.

"So what does Tobi need to go get?" "Tobi" asked, breaking the tense silence that had ensued after his small speech.

"A bowl of hot water and a wash cloth. Also, some tea with chamomile, cinnamon, and ginger," Itachi spoke, not even looking behind him as "Tobi" walked out of the room.

Sighing slightly Itachi resumed his task of getting Sakura into dry clothes, then wrapping her up in the warm, dry blankets of his bed. When she began to cough as if she was coughing up a lung, Itachi knew that she had taken another turn for the worst. Frustration began to build when he realized that he had no idea what to do to help her. He had never been that sick, and neither had any of the Akatsuki. Any time one of them got even slightly sick, they would automatically hide it, or find a way to keep from getting worse. There had never been a time to take care of anyone incredibly sick. Itachi could only hope that Tobi would know what to do. With this hope still fresh, Itachi saw Tobi come in with the water and wash cloth.

"Tobi brought what Itachi asked for. Is there anything else Tobi can do?" Tobi set the bowl and wash cloth down on the stand next to the bed, then looked at Itachi.

"Yes. Do you know any way to help her? I never learned medical jutsu, and she's really sick,"

"I-is Itachi a-actually…worried about Sakura-chan?" Tobi asked, looking apprehensively at Itachi, who just turned his eyes slowly to Tobi. "Uh…T-Tobi'll just go and make that tea for her that Itachi-san asked Tobi to make. Once Sakura-chan wakes up, Tobi will make some soup so that she will feel better," With a small bow, Tobi raced out, leaving Itachi alone to watch over Sakura again.

A few hours later, even after the tea, and soup, Sakura still seemed just as bad as she was before. The only progress was that her fever had gone down a little. She was still trembling, and she had begun tossing and turning. Itachi stayed by her side, reading most of the time, and watching as Tobi came in and out, performing different methods for taking care of her. Hidan even came in at one point to check in on her, though he blamed it on the fact that Konan was worried, but had been busy. After a few minutes, embarrassed ones on Hidan's side, he left, mumbling about how crappy she looked.

The next day, Sakura had managed to fall into a, as Hidan called it, "death sleep." She no longer tossed and turned. In fact, she didn't move or make any sound at all. It was almost as if she had fallen into a coma. Tobi became worried because he couldn't feed her now that she wouldn't respond in any way. This thought caused him to glance at the tea that was now sitting on the night stand. He gazed at it for a moment, when a thought came across his mind.

"I wonder," he leaned away from his chair, took a sip from the cup, then leaned back down to Sakura. Gently, he pressed his lips to hers, then pried them open slightly so that way he could pour some of the liquid down her throat. At the same time, he very gently massaged her throat. It worked. He felt her swallow beneath his hand. Feeling slightly triumphant, he locked the door, then continued the process until the cup was empty. Because he had gotten no sleep the night before, Itachi felt his lids getting heavy, and, resting his head next to Sakura's, closed them, and soon fell into a light sleep.

Sasuke was yelling at her for falling for his brother, Tsunade and Kakashi were asking how she could possibly betray her village in this way, and Naruto was accusing her of wanting to kill him just as much as her lover. Sakura kept screaming that none of it was true, she wasn't his lover, she hadn't fallen for him, and there was no way she could every betray her village or Naruto, but none of them would listen. They kept screaming and yelling at her, their eyes clearly showing their anger. Tears began to fall down her face as Sakura tried countless times to get them to listen to her, all to no avail. She finally fell to her knees, begging them to listen and understand that they were wrong, when Itachi came up behind her, and pulled her back to her feet.

He told her it was alright, that they would learn to live with it, and then, he pressed his lips gently to hers, right in front of everyone else. Their yelling increased in volume, and Sakura could hear them approaching. She tried desperately to get Itachi off of her and tell the others that it was a mistake, and that she had not wanted him to do that. And yet, heat had filled her stomach and heart as he had covered her mouth with his, and the others knew it. They began calling her a liar, Sasuke even putting in what a slut she was. Her words became slurred as sobs began to rise out of her throat. Then, suddenly, Sasuke brought out his sword, and shoved it through her stomach, and her scream echoed through the room.

Sakura jolted into sitting position, tears still streaming down her cheeks, the scream just starting to die in her throat. Her heart was pounding in her ears, and her body was shaking uncontrollably. She jumped as she felt a hand on her arm, and turned to see Itachi sitting next to her, eyes slightly alarmed. With another sob, she realized that she was not angry or scared to see him. She was relieved and comforted. The tears and sobs came harder, and she found it hard to breathe. Though she hadn't fallen for him, like accused in her dream, she knew that wanting him to hold her was just as bad.

Itachi had awoken the instant he had heard her sobs. At first, he had had no idea what to do. She was lying in the bed, tossing and turning, muttering with tears streaming down her face which was contorted with fear and anguish. He had been about to reach for her when she had jolted up screaming. More confused than ever about what to do, Itachi had just sat there, watching as she seemed to calm down. Then she looked at him. Her eyes had softened for a moment, then filled with anguish as the tears began again, sobs escaping from her lips. Remembering that she for some reason was comforted by the closeness of someone, anyone, also noticing that he was the only other one in the room, Itachi moved to sit next to her, and pulled her close, hoping that it would calm her down.

Sure enough, after a few moment of hard crying, she began to relax, and her sobs subsided. As he stopped worrying about her making her illness worse, Itachi realized how bad this situation could be if anyone found out. All the gentle and protective feelings he had felt for the pink-haired woman in his arms were being clearly displayed as he comforted her. However, Itachi wasn't too worried. For some reason, it felt right, and good, to be doing something so…human. It was normal for most people to comfort another when they are upset, especially when they feel some sort of affection for that person. Now that he had decided to be honest with himself, Itachi had to admit that the feelings she was bringing out were closest to affection.

All of her unexpected and unexplained actions, the way she stood up to him and anyone else who pissed her off, her strength, yet gentleness and kindness. She was perfectly human, and the first one to not only see him as a perfectly human man, but make him feel like one as well. To him, this was all completely foreign, and he was still not sure how to deal with it.

That was made harder by the fact that affection was not the only thing he felt when he was around her. The near unbearably strong desire that burned him was getting harder and harder to deal with. Of course, he was not going to show any of his new-found affections, nor was he going to tell anyone. He was going to have to remain as much the same as he used to be because one; he couldn't let any of the Akatsuki see him acting human, and two; he still had his mission to complete, and couldn't bring her into it. However, if he strayed every now and again when it was just the two of them…it wasn't like he would have been able to avoid Hell beforehand.

While Itachi was condemning himself, Sakura was thinking about her dream. All of her fears about that dream actually becoming reality were just going to have to be pushed aside. For Sakura had just realized one vital thing the moment Itachi had gently wrapped her in his arms to comfort her; it was inevitable that she was going to fall for him. She was already tripping over the line, and the ground was coming up fast.

A.N. Yay!!! I got this chapter done faster, and it's another long one! I am so excited that I managed to get this done, but I had a little bit of an advantage this time. I had a three-day weekend, and was able to spend some time late at night since I wouldn't have school, and then a lot of Monday (today) to finish it. Although, I almost didn't do that much. I had gone over to a friend's house yesterday to play airsoft with a small group of friends, and all the running up and down hills and crouching…I was very sore this morning. Not only that, but my sister and I had been wrestling on Saturday night, and at one point, when I had her pinned down, she began kicking me, and her bony heel connected with my hip bone, leaving a lovely bruise, that has turned a dark purple and is quite big. While I'm very proud of my bruise, it leaves me a little achy, and add that to my soreness…I very nearly just stayed in bed today. However, I figured moving around would help a little more. (it didn't.) Anywho…I think that I've finally done a lot of character development, and the relationship between Sakura and Itachi is going to go much faster now that I've got all this done. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I would love all of your reviews. They've been great so far, and really keep me going. They're wonderful, and I thank you all! Oh, also, I'm terribly sorry for some of the longer paragraphs if you get lost, or if it hurts your eyes. I tried!!! Slant Agat! --Kat


	8. Chapter 8

Sakura and Itachi spent the next three weeks almost inseparable. Everywhere Sakura went, Itachi was sure to be close behind. This didn't surprise anyone in the house because she was his captive, and she had proven to be very good at escaping. However, what did surprise them was how she didn't seem to mind, and was often found, not in her room, but in his, reading. Nearly everyone found this discovery shocking, even Tobi, who had thought that Sakura had hated "Itachi-san." Neither Sakura nor Itachi paid much attention to all the questions and whispering, well…whispering by all but Hidan, who constantly yelled at the top of his lungs about them every time one or both entered a room he was in. Their reason for spending so much time together was the intelligent conversation and company.

For Itachi, he had always known that she was unusually clever, but was pleasantly surprised when she knew of all the authors of all the books he had, and was able to converse about many subjects that no other person he had met could. Her knowledge of not only jutsu related information, but worldly information in general, was fantastic. Then of course, there was the fact that she didn't constantly yell at the top of her lungs, curse obscenely, or argue nonstop. She was perfectly comfortable to sit in silence, and read one of the books he had collected. This new revelation about her personality was refreshing, and only increased his interest in her.

On the other side, Sakura was amazingly relieved to find how well-read Itachi was. She had known that he was a genius, that was commonly known anywhere the Uchiha name was familiar, but it was nice to find that he enjoyed reading, and had great taste in books and authors. Through this, she was also able to see a more human side to him. He was still quiet and stern, but seemed almost normal when they would have their conversations on books and other writings. The chill he held with him constantly wore off slightly, and she was sure he had smiled on a couple occasions, but he had turned away before she could be sure.

Another upside about them spending so much time together, they were both able to gather a lot more about the other's life and personality. In the couple of times they had discussed it, Sakura had seen that the massacre had left some deep scares on Itachi. An invisible wall went up whenever the subject came up, and his eyes went cold and distant. Also, whenever she brought up the subject of him killing Sasuke, that wall came up again, but Sakura could still tell that there was so much more to that plan than he let on. However, she just hoped that he would tell her one day about what he was planning on doing, and why he killed his clan.

Unfortunately for Sakura, she never forgot the fact that she could bee considered a traitor by doing this for now, she wasn't getting close to him just so she could find a way out. She was truly interested in why he did what he did, and why he was so closed off to people. However, it was difficult to think about all this when her brain became muddled by his rich, smooth tenor, and the absolutely gorgeous face he would turn to her. He never really helped her when he would go to take a shower, then come back out with just his pants on. Sakura was sure that each time he did that, her IQ dropped at least forty points. Then of course, there were the times when she would comment on something she had read, and he would come behind her to see what she was talking about. Her poor heart had suffered at least five near attacks.

All of this she tried to keep out of her head, knowing that it was dangerous, but also knowing that it was hopeless. There were so many things about him that captured her attention, and held it. His remarkable intelligence, his strength, his gentleness, when he used it, and his enigmatic nature. To add to that, there were occasions when he would act perfectly human. There was one time in particular, when she had woken him up fairly early, and he had whined at her. For a moment, she had been frozen, not really sure what to do, then she laughed.

It had been more of an instinctive response, so she couldn't really help it, but it did not make Itachi's mood any better. He had gotten out of bed, glowering at her, asking why in Hell she was laughing. She told him that he reminded her so much of Sasuke, and that she wasn't expecting him to pout and whine. Of course, this answer did not exactly please him, and he had pushed her on the bed before stalking off to take a shower. Ever since then, Sakura had done little things to see if she could annoy him, or cause him to pout again. It worked. She found a myriad of things that could annoy him. Unfortunately, he began to catch on, and began to annoy her as well. So now they had a game to see which one could set the other off first. Not exactly a game you would think anyone would want to play with Uchiha Itachi, but Sakura never thought of that.

Even with all this, life at the hideout was fairly quiet and rather dull. The members still had their missions, though Itachi had not had one in a while due to the fact that he was "watching over" Sakura. Therefore, some of the members, like Kisame and Hidan, spent most of their time complaining loudly.

"This is fucking boring! Why the Hell can't I go out and get a god damn sacrifice?" was Hidan's normal complaint, considering Pein didn't want him going out too much for fear that he would attract too much attention, which he tended to do.

"Why do I have to do all the missions? Why can't Itachi do any of them? He brought Sakura along on the last one," was Kisame's normal complaint, followed by a look from Itachi that normally silenced him. Tobi and the others just kept quiet, but Sakura could tell they were bored. Even Itachi seemed to be getting restless.

Whenever he and Sakura were in his room, he would occasionally get up and pace, sometimes while reading a book or report, sometimes not. Sakura, however, was perfectly content to sit and read while the others were nearly driven crazy. Part of the reason for this was that while they were all getting restless, their guard was going down. She was simply waiting for the perfect time to use that to her advantage, and take off. Unfortunately, the thought of leaving came with some regret, which only strengthened her resolve to leave. Her foolish heart was opening up to Itachi, and the others, something she had tried so very hard to avoid.

As she sat in her room one evening, these thoughts ran through her head, building up on frustrations that had already been present the whole time she had been there. With a sigh, she walked over to the double doors of her balcony, and walked out, happy to see that it was snowing, causing some light to reflect in the night. That was another nice thing about the snow; it seemed to glow at night, giving some light to the endless darkness.

Sakura laughed as she thought this, knowing how ridiculously romantic and poetic it sounded. Her thoughts seemed to have taken that route recently. It must be the atmosphere. Her situation was like something out of some book. Here she was, being held captive, in a huge mansion, her captor a remarkably gorgeous, yet mysterious man. It was enough to make any romantic sigh as possibilities took over the imagination. Not to say that any had done so in Sakura's mind. Every time something like that threatened to overtake her, she blocked it out.

"Isn't it a little cold to be standing outside?" Sakura didn't even need to turn around to know who it was. She was so used to his presence that she knew before he spoke that it was him.

"I like the cold. It helps to clear the mind," she said, keeping her back to him and looking out through the flakes to the white landscape.

"Does your mind need clearing?" he asked, coming closer to her, looking out at the landscape once he came to her side.

"A little," she said softly, not really talking to him. He looked down at her, and was taken aback to find her face sad, her eyes slightly glassy. Ever since she had begun to open up to him, he had noticed that sadness. There was something, probably related to her nightmares, from her past that had left some very deep scares.

"Who hurt you?" he asked, not taking his eyes off of her face. She turned to him, eyes wide with surprise, and fear. Recovering quickly, she turned away from him.

"No one. And even if they did, everyone gets hurt now and then. It's nothing," she took a step away, planning on going back inside, but Itachi grabbed her arm and spun her to face him, bringing her right up against his body. She gasped, eyes wide again, but no fear in them this time, just surprise.

"Don't lie to me. You must know by now that you can't lie to me. I'll just see right through it," his voice was slightly lower with anger now, and his brow was furrowed.

"I don't want to talk about it," Sakura's voice was soft, but still surprised.

"You need to. You've been having nightmares, and you obviously think about it a lot,"

"I don't want to talk about it," she repeated, her voice just as angry as his now, eyes narrowed, surprising both of them when tears began to leak out the sides. Frustrated, Sakura wiped them away with her hand.

It was as if something had exploded in Itachi. She looked so vulnerable, fragile and innocent, and yet, her voice held strength as she fought with him. And the tears that fell were swiped away quickly by a sturdy hand. When she was sure her eyes were dry, she looked back up at him, anger still blazing in those bright green eyes.

"Look, it's none of your business. It's something that happened a while ago, but I'm still trying to get over it. Just leave it alone," she turned to leave, but he once again brought her back.

"Why should I leave it alone?"

"Because it's none of your business!" Though she fought to break free, his grip didn't loosen. It became stronger as she yelled and fought, hitting him occasionally just for good measure. "Look, you may be my captor, but that does not mean that you can force yourself into my private business!!!" Tears were beginning to fall again, but she was too busy fighting him off to notice. To keep her from hitting him anymore, he pulled her up against him, trapping her hands against his chest. She looked up at him, glaring with as much anger as possible.

"You have no right to do this!! I don't care that you are more powerful! You have no right to try and force this out of me! To do so is…is…" she looked for a word dirty enough, but couldn't find one, so yelled in frustration as she tried to get out of his grip. "How can you just stand there coldly? Don't you feel any annoyance? Anything at all? Or are you just some cold, heartless-" he cut her off as he leaned down and covered her mouth with his harshly.

She had crossed a line. The whole time, he had been getting annoyed, irritated, but didn't know how to vent it. Well, he found his way. The desire he had been feeling had also been growing, and he just gave in to the frustration and all the other feelings, and just kissed her without thinking. It was having the effect he wanted. By throwing everything into the passionate act, the great storm of emotions began to calm. His method seemed to work for her as well, for she kissed him just as harshly and passionately, freeing her arms and wrapping them around his neck as he wrapped one around her waist, bringing her closer, and diving the other in her hair.

All thoughts completely left both of them as they continued to ravage each other, battling for domination as their anger pushed them farther. Itachi backed Sakura up until she was up against the wall, then took her hands in one of his and put them above her head. Keeping his body as close to hers as possible, he ran his other hand up her thigh, bringing up the robe she had been wearing to her waist and revealing the teddy underneath. She gasped into his mouth as he also pulled up the teddy so as to have full access to the skin beneath. Breaking away from her mouth, he moved down her jaw, and began nibbling down the sensitive skin of her neck. A soft cry escaped her full lips as he nipped on her collar bone and caressed her exposed waist with his hand.

As he began to untie her robe, capability of thought began to return to Sakura's muddled mind. Her eyes opened slightly, though she found this difficult considering how heavy they were, and she tried to free her arms.

"Itachi…Itachi…ah…stop," she realized her protests weren't very convincing when she was still so incredibly aroused, so she shook her head in an attempt to clear it. "Itachi please stop. Oh my God," she gasped as he began to bite at her earlobe. Right as she was about to protest some more, there was a knock at her door.

"Sakura-chan? Tobi brought some tea in case Sakura-chan wanted something hot to drink since it's snowing,"

Sakura tried to control her panting as she answered. "Thanks Tobi, I'll be right there,"

She looked up at Itachi, whose eyes were black, and smoldering. He too was panting.

"We'll talk about this later," he said, his voice husky with the same desire she still felt. She opened her mouth to respond, but he covered it in another passionate kiss, then disappeared. When he was gone, and she had her breathing back under control, and appearance fairly normal, she opened the door, letting Tobi in.

"Sorry, I was a little busy," she said, taking the tray with the tea on it.

"That's ok. Is Sakura-chan alright? You look upset. And your lips are all red, and why does Sakura-chan have bruises forming on her neck?!" Tobi pointed to the bite marks on Sakura's neck, which she hid quickly with the robe.

"It's nothing! I guess I just rubbed too hard when I was showering. Thank you Tobi!" she said, going back to the tea. Though he seemed to want to ask more questions, Tobi just shrugged, then walked out.

Sakura sighed and collapsed on the bed the instant the door shut. Oh yes. They were definitely going to talk about it later.

A.N. Another chapter finished! I'm sorry if not much happened in this chapter, I'm just trying to get things going, so I was working on breaking the ice for the whole physical relationship. They have a lot of trust built, and are used to talking with each other, but I wanted to get the first physical encounter going. So…now that it's done, more will be on the way! Just a warning, there will be some sex scenes, and some other…more mature subject matter coming up in the future. It's going to get kinda messy. In any case, sorry it took a while to get done, I hadn't had too much inspiration until I just sat down one night, and pumped out about four pages of chapter. Lol. Most of my inspiration was the song "Dangerous Game" from Jekyll and Hyde. Hehe…anywho…thank you for all your wonderful reviews! As I have said before, they really keep me going, and they tend to be the highlight of my day when new ones come in. Keep them coming! Slant agat! --Kat


	9. Chapter 9

Warning: There will be a sex scene in this chapter, so if it will offend you in any way, please do not read.

Though they had said they would talk later, Sakura and Itachi didn't get the chance to talk for five days. For some reason, Pein had decided that it was alright for Itachi to go on missions again, and sent him on them constantly. Not only that, but Tobi seemed to be in need of her whenever Itachi was around. Suspicion began to grow in both of the victims as they were constantly pulled apart. Even at night, any time they tried to talk, Tobi would come in, offering something, or one of the other members would interrupt for some random reason. Now they were trying to find some way in which to interact.

On the sixth day of their separation, Sakura decided to go onto the training field to knock off some steam. As she got out to the field, she was happy to see it empty, a thin layer of mist covering it in the early morning. There was a cold breeze, and there was still a thick layer of snow, the clouds threatening more. Though it was cold, she was wearing a fishnet t-shirt over a black tank, sweatpants making up for some of the exposure of her upper body. She was glad for the freezing morning air; it made exercising so much easier. Putting on her gloves, she went up to some of the punching dummies, and began to beat the crap out of them. She didn't even feel the dummy on her numb hands, and once she began to kick it, couldn't feel it on her legs either.

This was how Itachi found her, kicking the crap out of the dummies, and when they were completely destroyed, she punched the earth once, creating a great split that ran for quite a few yards. Zetsu was not going to be happy about that. He watched, amused as she continued to go around the field, throwing kunai and shuriken at random targets, hitting all of them, and knocking down anything else she could find. You would never have guessed that someone so small could have so much power, and yet there she was, giving off so much power that Itachi was sure he could feel it emanating all the way towards where he was watching. He couldn't blame her though; he was also pissed off. He knew that Pein, and probably someone else in the group was working to keep him and Sakura away from each other, at least, make sure they didn't have any alone time.

He suddenly had to duck when she launched a boulder his way. Landing next to her, he grabbed her arm, turning her towards him.

"Letting off some steam?" he asked, taking some satisfaction in the surprised look in her eyes. Recovering herself, she pulled her arm out of his grip, and began to pick up some of the remains of the dummies, and her weapons.

"Maybe," she answered, voice clipped. His brow rose.

"You're mad at me as well," it was more a statement than a question.

A "hmph" was all he got in return. He watched her for a moment as she continued to pick up weapons.

"Are you going to tell me why, or are you just going to pout around like a child?" His question got the response he hoped for. First, she threw some of her kunai at him, all of which he caught or hit away, then she stormed up to him, jade eyes blazing.

"How dare you?"

"How dare I what? Ask a simple question?" he knew exactly what she meant, but felt that she needed to blow up at him, and decided to fuel the fire, though it was getting pretty hot and uncontrollable.

"You know exactly what!!! Six days ago, you kissed me. How dare you!" her hand flew out of nowhere, smacking him hard across the face. His head snapped to the side, but he just looked calmly back at her. "You should know by now how weak my heart is, and that I've come to care about you and the others, and then you kiss me! It was completely uncalled for, and in out situation, incredibly dangerous! Nothing can come out of it, and I don't want to even think about going any farther!" She began hitting him again, but he grabbed both her wrists, backed her up against a tree, and captured her mouth with his.

She fought as hard as she could, even though he had her trapped. All the pent-up anger at him and the others began to well up inside her, until she was suddenly kissing him back, all thought gone, replaced by pure, raw emotion. As he released her wrists, her hands dove into his hair and pulled him closer, her mouth harshly responding to his. When he began to pry her lips apart, she opened them willingly, giving his tongue entry, but would not let him dominate. Even as he hoisted her up so her legs wrapped around his waist, she still fought, though it was now for control of the kiss. However, he pulled back, looking up into her eyes, which were still flaming, but the anger was mostly gone.

"Better?" he asked, voice calm, but not quite cool. She nodded, and he let her down, but still remained close to her body, leaning close to her with both hands on either side of her head.

"Thanks," she said, slightly breathless. "I needed that. I've just been so frustrated. I'm so confused," growling in frustration, she dropped her head into her hands, and began to massage her forehead, trying to rub away the headache that was pounding between her eyes. He remained where he was, watching her silently.

After a couple minutes, she looked back up at him, smiling.

"This whole thing just sorta sucks," she said. He nodded, still silent. She sighed, leaning her head back against the tree. "So why did you do it?" her eyes were closed, her voice soft as she asked the question. He was quiet for a little while, trying to figure the answer out himself.

"Like you said," he responded softly, "I'm only human. You are so different from anyone else I've ever met. You were able to see my humanity, even through all the insanity, and lost all fear of me. In short, you intrigue me," her eyes opened, and when she locked them on his, there was laughter sparkling in them.

"I see. So how long is this…"intrigue" going to last?" she smiled, her tone slightly teasing.

"As long as you continue to surprise me. Besides, this is not just an innocent intrigue," his eyes darkened now, and a ghost of smirk appeared on his lips. "Seeing as I'm only human, primitive desires have a lot to say in this. I never gave into those urges, seeing as they were never that strong. Now that they have decided to attack me two-fold, I decided that I would experiment and see what happened," his answer made Sakura laugh.

"So I'm a prize?" she laughed again. "I suppose that's to be expected. Well," she pushed off the tree, bringing herself right up against him, and leaned her head up, her lips a centimeter from his. "I guess we can both do some experimenting. Since this won't be permanent, why not play with fire? I'm sure neither of us is afraid of being burned, seeing as we've already started," she whispered the words against his lips, then with a smile, ducked under his arms, and headed back to the hideout.

Itachi remained where he was, watching her go back into the mansion, heat still lingering in his stomach. Playing with fire. That was a very good description of it, fitting the danger in with the pleasure perfectly. Most of the danger now was the thoughts of keeping her with him until the very end, if he even got to the end. He was now trying to find ways out of dying, which was showing how much she had really infiltrated into his life.

"What do you think you're doing?" a calm voice drifted from behind Itachi, and he repressed the urge to grab a kunai and throw it.

"Leading her on so that way she doesn't continue to try and run away. You know how much trouble she was when she was actually determined to get away," Itachi turned, facing the masked face of Madara. "This way, she's much easier to deal with, and I can keep a better eye on her,"

"Are you so sure? Remember what my eyes can see, Itachi," Madara moved closer, and Itachi was sure his eyes were piercing right through him. "You can't become too attached. Sasuke nearly became a fatal problem. This girl could be even more lethal. She's incredibly powerful, though she doesn't flaunt it, and is even more intelligent. Not only that," his voice took on the slight lilt of a taunt, "you're only human. You've got to be extra careful to shut down all those emotions. We're so close to our goal, don't screw it up now," he was now a mere foot away from Itachi, his one visible eye boring into Itachi's.

"Once again, you're underestimating me. The last time you did that, I proved you wrong," Itachi's voice was cold, his expression harsh.

"Yes, but the last time I had faith in you, you failed. Your brother is still alive," Though his tone wasn't necessarily as hostile as Itachi's, a certain authority had slipped into it, warning Itachi that he was treading on dangerous ground.

"She's nothing to me, just amusement every now and again when she decides to do something unexpected,"

"Well, you certainly are lenient on her, even though she constantly questions your authority over her. I would have thought that you, out of all people, would never tolerate such a thing."

Itachi could tell that Madara was trying to nail him, prove that Itachi had gone soft. That was something Itachi could not let happen.

"I'm telling you, she means nothing. Once we're done with her, I'll get rid of her myself if you want me to," There was silence as Madara stared at Itachi, thinking.

"We don't need to get rid of her yet, she could still be of some use, but I will take you up on that. When I say so, you will kill her, and then we can go on with our business," he turned, walking back into the woods. "However, if I see anything that proves you're going soft, I will get rid of her myself, and you will not like the way I do it, though she will like it even less," with a wave and his warning still burning the air, he disappeared, leaving Itachi standing alone in the clearing. Or at least, he thought he was alone.

Sakura had come back out, remembering that she had left most of the shuriken scattered all over the place, and that the field itself was a complete disaster, and had decided to fix it. When she had walked out, she had seen Itachi, standing with his back to the woods, stiff as a board. Curious, and slightly worried, she had gone forward a bit, then froze when she heard another voice. Shock paralyzed her when Tobi emerged from the woods, but the voice coming out of him was not Toby's voice. She listened to the whole conversation, hidden behind one of the walls of the mansion, and had felt her heart plummet at their words. So, she was going to die. No matter what, she was going to die. Also, she meant absolutely nothing to Itachi. Not that she hadn't seen that coming, but it did nothing to numb the pain.

She had stayed a little while after Tobi had left, not quite sure what to make of the event she had just witnessed. Her mind snapped back into action once Itachi began to move back towards the mansion. With a start, she ran back inside, and headed straight for her room, locking the door. The instant her door was shut, she began pacing feverously. There had to be a way to get out. There was no way she could stay any longer, but knew she would have to. She needed to buy her time, act like nothing had happened, though she knew that would be futile. Still, she had managed to gain their trust, and knew that they were easier on her now, more relaxed. If she took advantage of that, there was a small chance she would be able to get away. This thought in mind, she headed to the stack of books she had put in her room that she had taken from Itachi's, and began to read, trying to get her mind away from everything she was surrounded by.

He knew. There was no other explanation. No matter what Itachi did now, Madara knew that Itachi had made the mistake of letting someone close to him. So what was he going to do? It's not like he could just ignore her, though she was doing a good job of that to him just now, but she was the one thing keeping his humanity intact, and if he wanted to see his plan through to the end, he had to keep some shred of his humanity. Now his thoughts strayed to her. Why was she avoiding him? She had locked her door, something she hardly ever did, and had put jutsus on it, making sure that no one could get in. Then it hit him. She had heard. A curse flew out of his mouth as the severity dawned on him. There was no way she would let him near her now. She figured that she meant absolutely nothing to him.

Angry and frustrated, with just a little bit of reckless alcohol to fuel both emotions, he walked out of his room, then went out onto his own balcony. He had already tested the balcony, and found it also surrounded by jutsus. Spending a couple minutes to identify them, he then made a few hand signs, and broke the jutsus. Even more frustrated than before, he leaped from his balcony, to hers. When he threw open the doors, he was satisfied to see her surprised face. However, the surprise did not stay on her features for long. Her brows drew together in anger, and her entire body pulsed with rage.

"What the Hell do you think you're doing?" she yelled, getting up from the bed to walk over to him, her movements gracefully dangerous. As he had done the first two times, he surprised her as he suddenly wrapped her in his arms and kissed her thoroughly. She put her fists up between them, trying to push him away, but he just held on, tightening his grip.

He had decided while he was getting into her room, that he was going to do this. If he was going to have to end things because of Madara, then he was going to give in to all of his desires, and emotions, for just one night. She continued to fight against him, even as he pushed her against the wall. Managing to break away from him, at least her face, she looked up at him, eyes ablaze.

"You can not use me this way!! I heard you earlier, and I can guarantee you that you will not keep me hear just by fueling some human weaknesses I very unfortunately can not get rid of!" She yelled the words, spitting them in his face, and began to fight against him again. He grabbed her wrists, stopping the assault she was launching on him, and looked down into her eyes. Then, ever so gently, leaned down and kissed her.

It was different from all the others they had shared; it was gentle and tender. Sakura was stunned, not quite sure what to make of the situation. She could feel his emotions pouring into her from the kiss, and knew that what he had said earlier was a lie to protect her. Once he pulled back, she could see a hint of pleading in his eyes.

"Did that feel like nothing to you?" he asked, slightly breathless. She shook her head, and felt tears start to well up in her eyes, but since he had her hands, she couldn't wipe them away, and one fell down her cheek. His brow furrowed, and he let go of one of her hands to wipe it away, then looked at her again, frown still on his face. "He really hurt you didn't he? My brother…" His hand stayed on her cheek, a gesture of complete tenderness and affection that made Sakura's throat constrict. She could only nod to answer his question. He nodded in return, and stayed silent for a moment longer. Going completely on instinct, and letting all thought power shut down, Sakura raised herself up on her toes, and pressed her lips against his.

She could feel his shock; had expected it, but was not quite ready for his reaction. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close and returning the kiss, but it was all done like he was holding something remarkably delicate. She wrapped her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss, giving him permission to let go of his control. However, he remained gentle as he unwrapped his arms and untied the robe she was wearing, caressing the warm silk of the nightgown she was wearing. He hardly noticed the light crème color that matched her room as he slipped the robe from her shoulders, the silky material whispering as it fell to the floor to puddle at her feet. With a sigh, she completely melted against him, curving her spine so her body fit perfectly against his.

Painfully slowly, Itachi's lips left Sakura's and moved down her jaw, leaving a trail of fire behind. Sakura felt her blood boil as his lips found her throat and his teeth began to nip at the sensitive skin. She moaned and writhed against him as his teeth found her collarbone. As his lips moved to her shoulder, he brushed the straps of her nightgown down her shoulders so that the nightgown was barely clinging to her breasts. A gasp flew from her lips as his hand brushed over her breast right as he nipped on her shoulder. Her stomach clenched and began to flutter as she lifted his shirt off, slightly unhappy with the loss of contact, then began to undo his pants.

He found it incredibly charming how her hands trembled when she unfastened his pants. Once she got them off, he lifted her up into his arms, and walked towards the bed.

"Is your door locked?" he asked, pausing as he passed it. She nodded, and he continued to the bed, setting her down gently on the soft blankets. He straightened up for a moment, and performed a couple hand signs, which she knew made the room sound proof both ways, and made sure no one could come in. After he had finished that, he looked down at her, and felt all control slip away from him.

Her creamy skin was slightly reddened where his teeth had marked her. Her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes were a brilliant emerald, glittering in the dim light. Almost as if possessed, he lowered himself down to her, right as she raised her self up to him, and captured her mouth with a new fervor. She felt the change, and returned it, excitement flooding her system. Before she could even comprehend what had happened, the nightgown was off of her, and on the floor. A soft cry escaped her as his hands roamed over her body, determined to know every inch of her. His palms and fingertips were slightly calloused, but she liked it. It suited him; the roughness. Wanting to see his reaction, she brushed her hands over his chest and stomach, and was pleasantly surprised when he moaned and arched his spine towards her.

Just like their relationship was in general, it was a battle for dominance. Somehow though, Itachi always managed to keep her beneath him. When his lips began to follow his hands over her body, Sakura became paralyzed. She had never felt anything so incredibly powerful and wonderful. A louder cry than before ripped from her throat as his fingers, then lips reached between her legs. Without her knowing it, he had removed her underwear, and was now mercilessly ravaging on her. Any brain power she had had left completely disappeared, and all she could do was writhe under him, crying out. He continued for what seemed like hours, and only moments, until she felt something in her stomach explode, and his name flew from her lips on a breathless cry. Her body melted back onto the blankets, her chest heaving as she tried to regain her breath.

He came back up to her, gently catching her lips in his own as her body shook slightly. Continuing the kiss, he got rid of his own underwear, but remained poised above her. Breaking away from her, he looked down at her, her brilliant green eyes barely visible underneath her lowered lashes.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked, knowing how easily a woman could be broken from such an act if she regretted it later, and also knowing that it had already been stolen from her. She nodded, smiling up at him. Not giving her time to think, he quickly slipped into her, causing her to gasp and arch up again. His pace was slow and steady at first, but once she began to moan his name, his pace quickened, and she matched it perfectly.

He couldn't think or breathe, and knew that she felt the same, for all she could do was moan his name breathlessly. Lights began to dance in front of his eyes, but he kept them open, staring down into hers. She hardly even blinked as she kept his gaze, and reached a hand up to brush his cheek. Turning his head, he pressed his lips into her palm, then bent to reclaim hers again as they both came, the kiss muffling her cry.

The air around them was stuffy and hot, but neither cared. They had wrapped the blankets around themselves once they had gotten enough energy to move, and were now laying side by side, arms wrapped around each other. She didn't think she had ever felt so content in her life. Though she knew she was betraying her village and her friends in the worst possible way, she was happy. Here was someone who truly believed in her strength, and who didn't always push her to the side. Not only that, he noticed her. Not as a friend or comrade, but as a woman. Sighing softly, she moved closer to him, and he just tightened his arms. There was silence for a couple more moments, then she spoke.

"It was two years ago, on a mission," though she started out vague, she knew that he knew exactly what she was talking about, though he remained silent. "We were going after Sasuke, but ran into some other rogue ninja, who were recruits of Orochimaru's. A fight broke out, and I was separated from Naruto and Sai, who were my companions. I managed to get rid of about ten of them, but I never saw the eleventh one coming. The other ten I thought I had knocked out got up, and held me down as each one took his turn," she paused, trying to keep a sob from rising in her throat. "Once they were done…I killed them. Naruto and Sai don't know. I couldn't bring myself to tell them, even though they knew something was wrong. When we got back to the village, Tsunade knew right away, and checked me out, just in case. I got lucky," she stopped, refusing to go any further. Itachi brought a finger to her chin, and tilted her head up so he could press his lips to hers. Though he didn't say anything, the kiss was all the comfort she needed, and once they broke apart, she rested her head on his shoulder, and fell asleep.

"Are you serious? She's an excellent healer. Why would you want to give her up?"

"Because she's causing a lot of trouble in my organization. This way, I can get rid of her without ever having it trace back to me,"

"But Itachi will come after us. If what you say is true, he will come after us, and never stop,"

"Oh he'll stop. He won't know what happened to her. Just make sure you don't leave any traces."

"Do you want us to keep her alive?"

"You may do whatever you wish to her. She's yours,"

"Thank you Madara. She will be of great use to us,"

"Again, just make sure none of it gets out Orochimaru,"

"I'm fairly sure Kabuto can take care of that. Can't you Kabuto?"

"Yes. It will be very easy now that I have my body back to myself."

The three men smiled at each other in the dark, and once Madara took off, he could hear Orochimaru's insane laughter as the snake master thought of plans to get the youngest Uchiha back.

A.N. First of all…Thank you so much for your reviews!!! I was seriously geeking out when I read the most recent ones. I'm a little nervous about this chapter, obviously because of the sex, but I hope you all like it! More reviews would be absolutely wonderful, you have no idea how happy they make me, and I must warn you, there will be rape scenes, and further sex scenes in future chapters. I hope that this doesn't offend anyone, I tried to make it as clean as possible, but still make it seem real. As a side not, to Sam, I would love to find a way to contact you. I love your review, and would like to talk in more detail with you. Now, to all of you, thank you again, and I hope to get the next chapter out soon!!! Slant agat! --Kat


	10. Chapter 10

It had all happened so fast, that she couldn't wrap her mind around it. And yet, she didn't regret it. Sakura had learned a few years ago to think about her actions so she would not regret them later. Either that, or know in her heart that the action she was taking was the right one, so she could avoid the same consequence. She had since gone by her new standard, and had avoided any regrettable actions. The moment she had begun kissing Itachi the previous night, she had known it was the right decision because it felt right to her in her heart. Her mind had been screaming at her to stop and run away, but her heart told her it was alright. Not only that, but her body wouldn't have moved anyway.

Now the sunlight was barely streaming in through the windows, and Sakura was surprised to find Itachi still next to her. His breathing was slow and steady; he was actually in a deep sleep. She had fallen asleep first, after yet another round of totally kick-your-ass sex, and had woken up to find his arm around her waist, and eyes closed. As she looked on him now, she noticed how completely peaceful he looked, all lines faded from his brow in relaxation. It made her absurdly happy to know that he could relax completely around her. Not only that, but he managed to stay asleep even as she woke up. In a gesture that felt a little bit too normal, she reached up a hand and brushed a strand of hair from his face. He stirred slightly, moving his face toward her hand, then opened his eyes slowly.

Ever since he had killed his clan, he had not been able to go one night in a deep sleep because of all of the nightmares. But last night, he had unconsciously fallen into a deep sleep, and now woke up, completely at peace. He looked at Sakura, her hair tousled from sleep, and felt, for the first time he could remember, at home. It was ridiculously human, and he knew that he would not be able to live his life the same way again. She had shattered his very way of life. Instead of feeling mad or annoyed at this fact, it only made him more protective of her. When she removed her hand from his cheek, he pulled her closer, and covered her mouth with his. Not quite satisfied with that, he then rolled on top of her, and slipped himself into her.

The sudden intrusion caused Sakura to gasp and arch up. His pace was quick and sharp, and her breathing soon became labored. He buried his face in her neck, and closed his eyes as they came to a quick, but satisfying, climax. They lay panting, tangled together for a moment, then Sakura laughed.

"Wow. Good morning," she said. His lips curved upward slightly against her neck, and a sharp breath came out as he tried not to laugh. She paused, noticing the change. "Are you laughing?" she asked, voice disbelieving.

"No," his voice was perfectly calm and controlled when he answered. He lifted his head and looked down at her, face composed. She smiled, knowing perfectly well that he was laughing.

"You don't have to hide that from me anymore," her voice was slightly scolding as she looked up at him.

"Old habits," he said, and rolled off to the side and got out of the bed, picking up his clothes as he went. After he had picked them all up, he walked into the bathroom. Thinking he was going to take a shower, Sakura stretched her arms out, and continued to lounge in the bed. Her eyes widened, and she squeaked as she was suddenly picked up and taken from the bed.

"What are you going?" she clung to Itachi's neck as he carried her over to the bathroom.

"Taking a shower," he replied matter-of-factly.

"Why do you need me to…oh! B-but…we don't have to…um…"she stuttered the whole way into the bathroom. Itachi tried not to smile as he set her down and started the water. He looked back at her, eyes dark and blazing, and all stuttering stopped. Feeling incredibly vulnerable as he walked towards her, Sakura put her hands up in front of her in a very Hinata-like way. Very gently, Itachi pried them away from her, and began kissing her softly, then more thoroughly as she began to relax. Without her even realizing it, he pulled her into the shower, and closed the door behind them.

Itachi decided to go back to his room the way he came, and that Sakura would go out first and get breakfast from Tobi. When she got out into the living room, she noticed nearly everyone out there, and remembered that she had never thought to check the time. Everyone looked up at her with raised eyebrows as she walked past them toward the kitchen. The scents of Tobi's cooking wafted in toward Sakura, bringing back to her the fact that she hadn't eaten for quite a while.

"Sakura-chan! It's almost one o'clock in the afternoon! You haven't eaten at all since last night!" Tobi came out of nowhere, holding a large tray of leftover breakfast items. "We're getting ready for lunch!" he held the tray out to Sakura, and she picked up some different fruits and pastries from the mix, then turned to go out, slightly in shock at how late it was, walking straight into Itachi's chest. His arms automatically wrapped around her, steadying her, and then he let her go.

"Late start?" he asked, his voice completely back to normal, betraying none of what had happened the night before.

"Y-yeah. I was just…surprised at how late it was," she too managed to keep her voice and mannerisms normal as she walked past him.

Even with their perfect acting, Madara saw right through it. He knew what had happened, and had made plans to get rid of Sakura the next day. He wanted to keep her around for another day because he wanted to monitor the situation and see how bad it really was. It was obviously bad enough to where Itachi would sleep with her. However, Itachi might have been telling the truth, but Madara truly doubted that. Having pretty much raised Itachi, he knew him well enough to know that Itachi did not sleep with women unless he was ordered to. That was just the way Itachi was. Even when he was younger he didn't take any interest in girls, or women for that matter. Frowning slightly, he watched Itachi grab food and Sakura go out into the living room, both completely normal.

"So why the hell are you out of bed so late?" Hidan asked once Sakura sat down. She didn't even look up as she took a bite out of an apple and chewed it slowly.

"I was up late last night reading," she answered, then took another bite. Hidan, Deidara, and Kisame, who had all been looking at her in interest, now looked away, figuring that a completely normal and non-suspicious answer. Very proud of herself, Sakura then turned and started a conversation with Konan.

Once Tobi had gotten out of the kitchen, Pein came in, stopping Itachi before he went out.

"I have a mission for you," he said, handing Itachi a file. Itachi flipped through the pages, then looked up at Pein.

"I take it you and Konan are going to make sure Sakura doesn't go anywhere considering this tells me that I must go unaccompanied,"

"Yes. We are perfectly capable of keeping her out of trouble," Pein said, though he knew that she would be in serious trouble once Itachi left, but kept that out of both voice and appearance. Itachi nodded, then left the kitchen to go and pack for the next morning.

Back in the living room, Sakura noticed Hidan seemed very anxious about something. She wanted to ask, but knew that he wouldn't answer her. After a while, Kisame and Deidara left, having missions to do, leaving Konan, Hidan and Sakura. Pretty soon, Konan excused her self, following Pein into their bedroom, leaving Hidan and Sakura alone. Right as Sakura was about to ask Hidan if he was alright, he grabbed her hand and dragged her off.

"What are you doing?" she asked, slightly frightened at how serious he seemed.

"I need to talk to you, but can't do that in a place where any damn person can walk right on in," even his voice seemed serious as he dragged her up to the third story. Once they got into his bedroom, he led her to the bed, then began to pace. This continued for a couple minutes, until Sakura got tired of the nervous silence.

"What's wrong Hidan?"

"Do you have any siblings?" his question was so quick, that Sakura had to wait to gain her voice back.

"Uh…no. At least…not anymore. They told me that I used to have a brother, but that he died," she narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Why are you asking me this?"

"Because there's a suspicion that I have, but need your help to confirm it," he stopped pacing, and kneeled in front of her. "Can you do blood tests?"

"Uh…I'm not sure…"

"Can you fucking try?" he sprang up again, agitated.

"Hidan, why are you so nervous?"

"Because you're in trouble," he said quickly, turning his back to her.

"What?" Sakura remained seated, not sure what to do.

Hidan sighed, but kept his back to her. "I heard leader talking to someone yesterday, they're planning on having Itachi leave on a mission, then letting you get captured by Kabuto and Orochimaru," Silence followed his statement as Sakura tried to digest what he had just said.

"B-but…why? I don't understand. And why are you telling me this now?" Her questions became panicky as she tried to think.

"I don't know why they want you gone, probably because you got to Itachi. And…I'm telling you now because I think you're my sister,"

Sakura gave a nervous laugh as she took in what he said. "How is that possible? You're immortal right? And my parents said my brother died. How-"

"Our parents lied. I'm only 30. I look like I did when I was 17, but I'm 30. Ten years older than you. When I was 10, a kunai that another kid had thrown pierced my throat, going nearly all the way through. I was knocked out, and when I woke up, my parents were kneeling over me, crying. I tried to ask what was wrong but couldn't speak. However, hey heard the noise I was making, and looked down at me. Biggest fucking shock of their lives. Once the kunai was taken out of my neck, it almost instantly began to heal," he laughed a little, but still remained faced away from Sakura. "They kicked me out, not sure what to do with me. After a few years, I found Akatsuki, and this is where I've been ever since. You wouldn't remember because you were only five. We were close though," now he turned to her. "You were the only thing I cared about." Sakura remained silent for a moment longer, then looked up at Hidan, perfectly calm.

"How did you know it was me?"

"Who else has pink hair and green eyes?" Hidan answered with a bark of laughter. Sakura laughed too, then stood up.

"God my life has taken a complete 180 since I got here. So, do you still want that blood test?" she looked almost mischievous as she looked up into his eyes.

"Ah, no thanks. I think I'm fairly sure now." Sakura laughed and shrugged.

"So what are we going to do about the fact that Pein wants me out of here?" she asked, completely serious again. Hidan frowned.

"It actually wasn't Pein that wanted you gone. It was the other person he was talking to. And I don't know. We'll have to figure that out tomorrow," Sakura nodded, then sighed. "So…" Hidan looked at her, a smirk on his face, "did you fuck him?"

"Hidan!"

Well, the plan was going to have to be moved up. Madara moved away from Hidan's door, amused by this new turn of events. It made things interesting, but also potentially problematic. Itachi wouldn't be the only one looking for her when she disappeared. Hidan would be too. However, he could deal with both of them if it came to that. With a smile on his face, he walked down the hall towards the stairs. He needed to talk to Pein some more.

Itachi stood in his room, looking down at his packed bag, and cursing Sakura. Even now, though he was supposed to be focusing on the mission, he wanted her. He had thought that maybe by finally having sex with her, the need would dampen some, but it hadn't. It had only gotten stronger. Like when you've taken a bite of a new fruit, and find that one bite is not enough. She was like an addiction. Shaking his head, he decided not to think on it too much. He had known that she had gotten to him, and he was just going to have to find a way to get around it and continue on with his mission. A knock on the door brought his thinking to a close.

"Itachi. I need you to leave earlier. You should be gone in about two hours," the voice of Pein came through the door before his footsteps announced his leaving. Itachi frowned. Something was up. Another pair of footsteps came near his door, and, knowing who it was, Itachi flung the door open, and pulled Sakura into his room, then shut the door closed.

"What is it?" she asked breathless, eyes wide with surprise.

"Something's wrong," he said, keeping a hold of her. Her eyes returned to normal, and knowledge filled them. His eyes narrowed. "You know what it is don't you?" She nodded.

"Hidan just told me that he heard Pein and someone else talking about having you go on a mission, then making it easy for Kabuto and Orochimaru to take me,"

"Orochimaru's alive?"

"He's attached to Kabuto," Sakura's eyes narrowed in confusion, then went wide again as she understood the meaning of the words. "Oh no,"

"Kabuto found a way to bring his master back. My brother is not going to be thrilled," He squeezed his fingers, then let go instantly when Sakura gave a gasp of pain. Turning his back on her, he walked toward the window. "I can't leave. If that's what they are planning, I have to find a way to stay here,"

"No. You need to go so there won't be any suspicion. Hidan can take care of me, and I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself," her voice was firm and final, telling Itachi that there was no room for argument. He turned back to her, and slowly walked toward her.

"You still don't understand the fact that you're a captive," he said softly, taking a strand of her hair in his fingers. She grinned up at him, then wrapped her arms around his neck, bringing her body up close to his.

"No. And you can expect that I never will," at the same time, they both brought the other as close as possible, and closed the gap between their faces.

There was a passion in this kiss that almost scared Sakura. It was like a goodbye. He was holding her so tight that it was almost as if he knew he would never hold her again. What she didn't know was that that was exactly how he was feeling. There was a dreadful darkness clouding his mind, telling him that if he left her, he wouldn't see her again. Right as he had found something worth living for, something completely normal and human, it was being taken away from him. Then again, he supposed this was what happened when you had sinned as much as he had. Still, he had this; these last few moments with her, and he wasn't going to waste them. Knowing exactly what he was going to do, he picked her up, her legs wrapped around his waist, and brought her over to the bed. If he was going to leave, he was going to leave her with this last memory.

An hour later, Itachi walked out of his room, performing the normal jutsus to keep everyone else out, leaving a sleeping Sakura protected. He had made sure to be incredibly gentle with her this time. Her cries had been soft and sobbing, and he knew that he would never get that, nor the look of her dazed eyes as he entered her, out of his mind. With a new determination, he walked toward Hidan's room. Not even bothering to knock, he walked straight in.

"Hey! What the fuck are you-" Hidan's protest was cut off as he saw the look on Itachi's face as he shut the door behind him.

"I want you to take care of her. She told me what you heard, and I want you to make sure nothing happens to her. If anything does, I will tear you apart, and make sure that you can't fit yourself together again. Do you understand me?" Itachi's voice held ice and death as he glared at Hidan, who glare right back.

"She's my sister," he said, satisfied to see the surprise temporarily light Itachi's eyes. Then Itachi nodded, and opened the door, turning his back on Hidan. "You love her, don't you?" Hidan asked softly. Itachi paused, then sighed lightly, closing the door after him. Hidan smiled. "Well fuck. If he can do it, I guess the rest of us are really screwed up."

Sakura opened her eyes slightly, stretching as she tried to wake up. A smile stretched across her face as she remembered the events of the hour before. She had never felt so loved or needed, and he hadn't even said anything. But she had. Her eyes opened all the way this time. She had told him that she loved him. Right before she had fallen asleep, she had whispered the words into his chest, and heard his sharp intake of breath. He was gone now. She couldn't ask him what he thought of it. Still, he had caressed her hair gently, and she would take that as a good sign. Sighing happily, she swung her legs over the side of the bed, holding the sheets to her chest, and stood up. When her eyes lifted from the floor, she very nearly let go of the sheets.

"You look absolutely radiant. Then again, good sex will do that for a woman," Kabuto sat across the room from her, a smile on his face, and a kunai in his hand.

Itachi had left Hidan a piece of paper telling him how to get into his room before he left, and Hidan was looking down at it now as he stood in front of the door, cursing the damn genius. He had gotten a bad feeling a couple minutes previous, and had decided to check up on Sakura, knowing she was in Itachi's room. Sighing, he put the paper away, and prepared to perform the complicated hand signs.

"What's Hidan-san doing? Did you finally figure out how to get into Itachi-san's room?" Tobi came up behind Hidan, staring up at him. Hidan repressed the urge to growl at him.

"No. I was just going to experiment. What do you want Tobi? I thought you had a mission with Deidara,"

"Oh! We just got back! Although, Senpai's not very happy with me. Tobi accidentally destroyed his last batch of explosive clay. That's why Senpai's up in his room, and the explosions are happening. He's making some more."

"Ok. Well, if you don't mind, I'd like to continue with my experiment," Hidan said, turning back to the door. Tobi didn't move. "Alone,"

"Oh! Sorry Hidan-san! I'll just go and make some more lunch, and maybe start on dinner early," with that, Tobi took off down the stairs. Waiting until Tobi was completely gone, Hidan turned back toward the door, and performed the hand signs. Tentatively, he reached his hand toward the door, and was relieved when he was able to touch, and turn the knob without getting thrown backward. Upon opening the door, he saw the room completely empty. Dread growing even stronger in his stomach and heart, he dashed to Sakura's room, finding that also empty.

"Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck," he ran down the stairs, catching Pein as he was walking toward his room. "Sakura's gone!" he said. Pein looked up at him and sighed.

"Great. That's all we need. Ok, get Deidara and Kisame, we'll go now and look for her," he then turned and continued toward his bedroom, calling Konan as he went.

"Bastard," Hidan muttered as he went up the stairs. "You know exactly where she is,"

Kabuto smirked as he laid the unconscious and naked kunoichi in front of Orochimaru.

"Well done Kabuto. We'll punish both Uchiha brothers for not obeying me. This girl will know the true meaning of pain and torture by the time we're done with her," Orochimaru's laughter rang through the hall as he picked Sakura up and carried her off.

A.N. lets out breath that has been held for nearly an hour Wow. This is my longest chapter, and took me forever to get started on. I'm so sorry! I've been so busy with choir (we're going on tour in a week-and-a-half), and my family's been sick, so I never got to this story. Not only that, but I had to find a way to give myself some inspiration. Which I did, so I'm all ready to continue. So…about the last chapter. I was really nervous about doing a sex scene, and was even more nervous when I didn't get many reviews. I'm so sorry if I offended some of you, but I rated this story as "mature" for a reason. Anyway, hopefully this chapter will be received better, but I still thank all of you for the reviews I've been getting, and the alerts, and favorite story things…sorry…I don't know exactly what to call those. XD I hope to have the next chapter out sooner, but I will have some homework to do, so it might be difficult, but I will try!! Slant agat! --Kat


	11. Chapter 11

Warning: Scenes of violent rape and torture in this chapter. You need to be either 16 or older, or be prepared for very heavy adult subject matter. I give my apologies if it does offend you.

Pain and darkness greeted Sakura as she opened her eyes. She lay still, not sure if she could move, and knowing that if she did, it would hurt like Hell. The ground beneath her was hard and cold against her bare skin. Her hand moved slightly to pull the sheet around her, but only grabbed air. Holding back a sob, she rolled over on her back, one of the only places that was not bruised yet. Kabuto had pretty much thrown her in the stone cell, kicking her as she rolled down the steps. It was only by luck that she managed to avoid hurting her back, and skill that she now began to heal herself. A sudden pain in her stomach caused her to cry out and stop the healing process.

"Now now, we can't have you healing yourself. Especially not when Lord Orochimaru begins his work. That would make the whole process completely useless," Kabuto walked in, holding a thin thread in his hand. Sakura watched the light travel down it, leading from his hand, into her stomach.

"What have you done?" she asked, angry at how weak her voice sounded.

"Simple. I attached a string through your stomach, sewing it on your back, and tied it on the wall. This way you don't go anywhere, and I can keep you from doing anything I don't want you to do," his grin froze Sakura's blood, but she forced herself to keep her eyes on him. 

"What do you want?" sheer determination kept her voice from fading away to nothing. 

"Lord Orochimaru has been looking for a way to punish both Uchiha brothers for rejecting him, and he finally found a way. By torturing you, and eventually killing you, we are getting rid of something they both care about. Oh yes, they both do care," he had seen the slight look off disbelief in Sakura's eyes. "Sasuke proved it by secretly helping you and Naruto. For instance, have you wondered why Akatsuki has not bothered Naruto in nearly four years? That was not because of us, or the fact that they were building up after Sasuke and Itachi's fight. Sasuke was keeping you out of trouble while he built his own strength up to fight his brother," 

Sakura just looked up at him, not saying a word. His grin stayed in place as he let the words sink in. 

"We found out about Itachi's new-found feelings because of my spying, and the little conversation I had with one of the members two days ago. I'm telling you all of this because you won't be alive to tell anyone. After we spend about two weeks torturing you, we will kill you, hopefully in front of both brothers. That is our plan anyway. Depending on the movements of the brothers, it could change," He tugged on the string slightly, and though Sakura winced, she did not make sound this time. Kabuto's grin faded slightly. "I see you're building up your resistance. No matter, we have more in store for you that you will not be able to resist. Now, I want you to get up and come over here," he tugged on the string again, harder so that Sakura was pulled across the floor about a foot. 

Deciding it was best to get up and obey, she struggled to her feet, every muscle in her body screaming in pain and protest. Once she was standing up, she shakily made her way over to him, then stood in front of him, covering herself as best possible. His eyes traveled down her body, fueling her urge to deck him in the face. He then turned his back and began walking out, leading her by the string. She tried hard not to notice the feel of the string in her stomach, pulling against her back. Fear began to poison her blood as she followed Kabuto through the dark hallway. Though he hadn't told her anything, she had a pretty good idea of where they were going, and no good memories were going to come from it. More than anything, she wanted to be back home, in the Leaf Village, but…she wanted to be with Itachi. 

The mission had been too easy. It was like it had been all set up for him. Itachi did not like it when things came too easily. He had a nagging feeling that there had been a reason he had been sent on that mission, and the timing. As he got to the hideout, the nagging feeling only grew, until it morphed into dread. Something was wrong, and he had a sinking feeling that he knew what it was. The instant he walked in the door, his suspicion was confirmed.

"They took her. You had just left, and she was already gone," Hidan didn't waste any time in coming up to Itachi, his whole persona radiating, "I'm pissed. Back off or you die." Itachi nodded his head, knowing that he could not plausibly blame Hidan. But he wanted to blame someone. However, he could only act slightly infuriated that she had gotten away. If he showed how anxious he really was, he would be in deep shit. So, he kept his face completely blank, and walked up to Pein.

"What are we going to do?" he asked, keeping his voice nonchalant, his eyes cold.

"Since she didn't learn anything of great importance," he looked at Itachi with hard eyes. Itachi shook his head, and Pein continued, "we can just forget about her. She wasn't any help to you, and we normally killed the other medics that couldn't help you. This just makes it easier for us. We don't have to worry about killing her, then getting rid of the body, or explaining to Tobi what happened," his voice hardened as he spoke about Tobi, sighing slightly. "We know for a fact that Orochimaru will only use her, and then kill her," 

"Do we really know that for a fact? Orochimaru has surprised many people," 

Pein stared at Itachi for a moment, his expression hard and questioning. "Well, going by what he has normally done, and what Kabuto told Tobi,"

"What did he tell Tobi?" Itachi's voice went hard, angry, his eyes narrowing dangerously. Pein seemed to understand that he was in deep shit. 

"He ran into Tobi on the way out, and explained to Tobi what was happening, threatening him if he tried to stop him," 

Itachi nodded, but the dangerous aura remained around him. He excused himself, and then walked away from Pein, anger coursing through his veins. He knew exactly what had happened, and who had planned the whole kidnapping out. As he walked upstairs, he tried to calm himself down, knowing that Madara would sense it and use it against him. When he got to his door, he found Hidan standing beside it, leaning against the wall. 

"Someone set this up," he said, his voice still absolutely flaming with anger. Itachi nodded, unlocking his door, and walking in, leaving it open for Hidan to follow. He turned when he heard more than one person enter. Kisame and Deidara had also followed. Itachi's brow rose, but he didn't say anything, leaving the question open for them to answer. 

"We aren't really all that eaten up about her being taken, though she did bring some amusement to this place, we just want to know what the Hell's going on," Deidara started out, closing the door behind him. They all watched in silence as Itachi performed his normal ritual of putting barriers on the door and windows. 

"We know for a fact that Leader didn't plan this whole thing on his own, though we know that he did do some of it. There's someone else behind it who wanted her gone for a reason, and we think you know who and why," Kisame walked up to Itachi, not afraid to look him in the eye and bluntly state what was going on. Itachi just continued too watch them, not saying anything. Then he sighed slightly, knowing that he wouldn't be able to get away with keeping it from them. 

"I will tell you exactly what is going on, but I need to know something first. Why do you care? What reason do you have for wanting to know?"

"I just don't like the fact that I'm being used for something by someone who doesn't really seem to be in charge, but I don't even know who's in charge. I don't like being lied to and treated like some sort of child," Deidara ranted. He leaned back against the door, his posture showing his impatience. Itachi looked to Kisame, who shrugged.

"Pretty much the same as blondie. Also, the girl kinda grew on me. I think she grew on all of us," he looked around, and Deidara nodded while Hidan remained still. 

"You know why, and I think that's enough," he said to Itachi, completely ignoring the other two. They both looked at him, quizzical, and slightly miffed at not being told what Itachi obviously knew. Itachi merely nodded, then turned to the others. 

"You were right; Pein is not the actual leader of Akatsuki, just a puppet like the rest of us. The true leader is Tobi,"

"What!" All three of the other men nearly fell to the ground in shock.

"Yes. He has another side to him, my ancestor, Madara Uchiha," Itachi waited a moment for any expression of shock, but they just remained silent, watching him. "Madara has achieved all that an Uchiha can by his eyes, making him immortal. At least, he thinks so. He's old, and becoming rapidly weaker. He put together Akatsuki a long time ago as a cover for himself, and put Pein in charge," he paused again, letting the information sink in.

"So why did he have Kabuto kidnap Sakura?" Deidara seemed to be the first to recover as he lifted his head and spoke. Now Itachi paused, seeming reluctant to tell them. 

"Because I slept with her," he said, eyes turning towards Hidan. Kisame and Deidara's jaws dropped. Hidan just smirked. 

"Well, I guess we all pretty much saw that one coming. At least, we did if we thought you were capable of that, which Kisame and I didn't," Deidara shrugged.

"No. I knew he was capable of it, and I did see it coming," Kisame said, glaring at Deidara.

"Oh bullshit," Hidan joined in, turning to Kisame. "You were the one who kept saying that Itachi would never do that, and there was no way in fucking Hell they would ever screw each other," Kisame opened his mouth to make a retort, but Itachi cleared his throat, making it clear that the conversation was over. Composing themselves, the other three looked over at him. 

"So…is there any other reason? I'm sure he wouldn't be too threatened by you just sleeping with her," Deidara spoke again, but this time Hidan answered. 

"He loves her. I know it doesn't seem possible, fuck, even I have a hard time believing it. However it's true. She also loves him," Itachi glared at him, but Hidan shrugged. "What? It's true. You would never admit to it, but I see it plain as day," 

Itachi continued to glare, but turned his attention on the other two, who cringed slightly under his oppressive gaze. "He was afraid that she was making me weak, and that I wouldn't be able to complete any of my missions," he didn't mention the one mission that was really important to Madara. 

"Is she?" Kisame was the only bold enough to ask what everyone else was thinking.

"No," Itachi's voice was cold and firm. Everyone believed him. By finally caring about someone, Itachi had found out why people like Sakura and Naruto were so strong. Sakura had explained it perfectly before when he had asked her, but he was now able to see it for himself. If someone you love is in danger, all you think about is how to get them out. Luckily for Itachi, he had been raised to lock away all emotions, so now, they didn't get the better of him. He as able to think calmly and rationally. However, he could feel all his power coursing through his veins ten times stronger than he could ever remember. His anger and feelings for Sakura were causing his power to grow, and he felt almost as if he were on fire. 

"Ok. So what the fuck are we going to do about this?" Hidan said with a huff, falling down on Itachi's bed. 

"Well, we already went and looked for her with Leader, but he was probably leading us in the opposite direction we should have gone," Kisame leaned against the bedpost, watching Itachi. 

"You all have missions tomorrow, correct?" Itachi asked, looking at each of them in turn. They all nodded, brows furrowing curiously. "Then, we all have missions at the same times, and should be gone for a while," he didn't even have to finish his sentence for the others to get the general idea.

"Brilliant. And Pein won't even suspect a thing," Deidara grinned. They all nodded, and got to work planning where exactly they were going to look, and what they were going to do. None of them really seemed to notice how they now called Pein by his name, and no longer referred to Tobi as "Tobi." Any formality, respect or illusion they had was now gone. 

Her body hurt. The ground was cold; a relief on Sakura's flaming body. However, her relief did not last long. Kabuto dragged her back up by her hair, and only let go of her once Orochimaru's whip had once again slashed across her skin, but instead of her back, he brought the braided hair across her stomach. She felt the welt begin to form, but was thankful the whip hadn't broken the skin. The cold ground was welcomed, and she was also proud that as of yet, she hadn't made one whimper, cry, or yell of pain. That was probably why her beating hadn't stopped yet, but she wasn't going to give Kabuto or Orochimaru the satisfaction of hearing her cry out in pain. 

A few moments passed and Sakura was still on the floor. Opening her eyes slightly, Sakura looked up and saw Orochimaru just looking at her, a frown on his face. He looked up at Kabuto, but since Sakura couldn't see his face, she didn't know what passed between them. After another moment, Orochimaru looked back down to Sakura, an evil grin on his face. 

"Kabuto told me about the run-in you had with a few rogue ninja two years ago. Strange how you seemed to keep your innocence, even through a horrific event like that. However, you probably still have nightmares, and have picked up some habits to keep yourself from getting hurt again," his grin grew, making him look manic. Sakura's heart began to pound as he got up and began to walk toward her. "I also hear that you killed them. How very interesting that the innocent little flower was actually capable of such an act. Then again, something like that can change a person," he finally came up to her, kneeling down in front of her, his hand passing over her hair. She repressed a shudder, and managed to remain still, eyes glaring up into his. 

"What do you think Kabuto? Should we have her relive her nightmares?" Orochimaru kept his gaze on Sakura, his hand still caressing her hair. Her gaze grew angrier, and put as much hate as she could into it. 

"It might not be as much fun as with Sasuke, but she might actually give more of a response,"

"I agree," Orochimaru's grin grew some more, and his eyes widened manically. The hair on the back of Sakura's neck stood on end. There was another moment of stillness, then Sakura was suddenly raised up again by her hair and held her there. Sakura struggled as hard as she could, but Kabuto's grip was too strong, and he managed to keep her in place as Orochimaru walked toward her.

Itachi lay awake in his bed, looking up at the ceiling. For the past two hours, he had felt some restlessness inside him, like he needed to be somewhere else. He knew exactly what it was, and he was about ready to go crazy because of it. Orochimaru had had her for about two days, and he knew that he and Kabuto would waste no time in torturing her. However, she would not give them the pleasure of hearing her cry out. She was too strong a person to let them get to her. Unfortunately, he still worried. They could do enough to her to change her for the rest of her life. He only hoped that he and the others could get to her in time. 

It had taken a few hours, but he, Hidan, Deidara, and Kisame had managed to put a plan together, though it was incredibly risky. Pein had no idea what was going on, but "Tobi" had seemed remarkably suspicious about Deidara's behavior. Luckily, he had backed off, and was just watching them carefully. It wouldn't be too hard to get rid of him though. All Itachi had to do was say that they were all just getting ready for their missions, and then start talking about their plan to get Sasuke, and he would become less suspicious. Too bad for them that Madara was too smart to completely fall for it. But they could only work with what they had. The thought that was truly driving Itachi crazy though, was the thought that he had finally found someone to care for, and he couldn't even help her when he was in trouble.

Darkness was starting to cloud the edge of her vision. Her eyelids had become so heavy that she hadn't been able to keep them open anymore. She breathed as quietly as she could even though her breath was coming out in gasps. They had run her ragged. Because of the fact that they didn't get a response from her, they had continued as long as their own bodies would let them. Now Sakura was back on the ground, waiting for whatever punishment awaited her. Orochimaru and Kabuto's breathing was just as labored as hers, but they didn't even bother hiding it. 

"She's just as strong as Sasuke," Kabuto's voice came from behind her, breaking the silence. She assumed Orochimaru nodded, because the sound of his breathing changed slightly. Silent time passed again, when the sound of someone getting up broke the silence. Kabuto had gotten up, and was walking away.

"Well. You seem to have a very strong resilience. I'm impressed. You always struck me as the weak vulnerable type, but I guess you finally grew up. No matter, your last punishment for today is coming with Kabuto," more sound came as Orochimaru got up and footsteps echoed through the hall as he went to a nearby wall, and Kabuto came back. 

Sakura's body was all numb by this time. All the whipping had caused her body to burn, but then with the closeness of the both men's sweaty bodies, the pain had just passed onto complete numbness. Her eyes opened slightly as she heard the opening of some sort of case, and then a laugh from Kabuto.

"This will get something out of you for sure. It always got Sasuke to scream," Sakura didn't even have the time to worry about what was in store for her before a white-hot pain flashed across her back. Not even thinking about dignity or pride, Sakura screamed. All numbness that had been protecting her before was gone. An obscene amount of pain was all she felt now, and all thinking process had long since left her. She knew, however, that Kabuto was now rubbing salt into her wounds. The more he wiped on, the more she screamed. After what seemed like hours, he stopped, and walked away. His and Orochimaru's laughter rang throughout the hall. 

As darkness began to take over her vision, Sakura thought of Sasuke. If what they said was true, then everything she had just experienced was exactly what happened to Sasuke. She felt sick, but her body was too weak to throw anything up. So she lay on the floor, and tried to regain her thought. However, her eyes finally closed, and she fell unconscious.

A.N. I am so sorry that I haven't updated in such a long time. I have been obscenely busy, and I'm so incredibly tired. My chamber choir went on tour this past weekend to Disneyland, and I have had three performances since we got back on Sunday (we left Thursday). I also got to see "Wicked," which made me remarkably excited, and I got a shirt! It's this bright green that says "Defying Gravity." I absolutely love it. Anywho…for Sam, you said that you thought the whole sex scene and everything was a bit rushed…I agree with you. I read it after I wrote it, and was slightly disappointed by how it turned out. I believe that I should have spent more time on character development, like I used to. So, hopefully the next couple of chapters will be better. Thank you all for your reviews (though I would love a lot more), and constructive criticism. I take all of it and try to work with it. As you can tell at the beginning of this chapter, I did say that there would be a rape scene, but I lost the guts. I just couldn't do it. If you want me to do anything like that, tell me, and I will do it. Anyway…it's really late where I am, and I'm exhausted. Slant agat! --Kat


	12. Chapter 12

Warning: Scenes of torture and rape

Warning: Scenes of torture and rape. Please do not read if it will offend or disturb you in any way. There is also a lot of violence and mature content. This is a very dark chapter, so if you do not like death and violence, do not read this chapter.

As the wind whipped across his face, pulling his hair back, Itachi ran over the plan he and the others had made. Lucky for them, they knew Orochimaru. It was fairly easy for them to predict his movements, and where he would be. Kabuto was a little more of a challenge, but they had figured it out. Their biggest advantage was that Orochimaru had no idea that they were on their way. Madara had probably told him that Itachi at least would try and do something, but he would not be expecting him this early. Nor would he expect most of the other members. Unfortunately, that was one of their only few advantages.

Itachi wasn't the only one thinking hard on the plan. As he looked at the others traveling with him, he noticed a concentrated expression on each of their faces. Hidan's especially. He could only imagine how this whole situation was affecting Hidan. Right after telling Sakura who he was, she got taken away from him. Itachi could at least relate with him on some level with that. He had finally found someone to care about. However, he had had more time to talk to her and get to know her. Hidan hadn't. With all of his missions, then the ones Sakura had gone on with Itachi, she and Hidan hadn't talked much.

However, neither Hidan nor Itachi could dwell on that. They had the plan to think of, and couldn't afford to be distracted. All of them knew that, no matter what the outcome of that day was, they were all going to be in deep shit by the time they got back to the hideout. Even if they executed the plan perfectly, Madara would probably know what had happened, and Pein wasn't dumb either. They would both know what Itachi had done. Being the man he was, Itachi had already thought of that, and was now thinking of ways to keep her away from Akatsuki. The others wouldn't be happy, but what choice did he have? None.

Darkness was something Sakura had never been too fond of. However, it had been pleasant to fall into it and leave everything else behind. All of the pain and fear. However, the memories pursued her in the form of nightmares. Tears fell from her face as helplessness began to consume her. Suddenly, she was woken by a pain between her legs. A cry escaped her lips at the sudden intrusion, and her eyes flew open in search of the cause. The laugh that echoed through the hall clued her in before her eyes even caught sight of the snake-like man crouching over her.

She was lying on her stomach, and was therefore trapped by Orochimaru. Burying her head down as much as she could into the ground, Sakura tried to ignore the friction as Orochimaru continued to thrust himself further into her. His laughing continued as his breath became fast and irregular. He grabbed at her breasts, squeezing them painfully and using them to push himself even further inside her to the point where Sakura was sure she would be split in half. Despite the pain and utter humiliation, Sakura kept her mouth shut, and refused to make a sound.

Orochimaru laughed again, and the tone in his laugh this time made the hair on the back of Sakura's neck stand up on end. She cringed as something warm and wet made its way inside of her, adding the rough friction of Orochimaru. With a queasy stomach, she realized that it was his tongue. It made its way deeper inside of her, causing her body to tense up. This only made the awareness of his intrusion greater, and brought even more pain. Tears began to fall down her cheeks, but she still refused to make a sound.

"What do you say we make this experience a little more…enjoyable for her? Hmm, Kabuto?" Orochimaru's voice was muffled by his tongue, but his words were surprisingly clear. Sakura heard Kabuto's laugh, and was, for the first time, aware of his presence. Orochimaru's hands moved from her breasts to her waist, and roughly turned her over so she was lying on her back. She could now see his tongue stretching obscenely down between her legs, and the insane look in his eyes. Her attention turned to Kabuto, who was slowly moving toward her, a vial in his hand. She could tell what it was just by the unnatural neon pink color of the liquid. With all the strength she could muster, she began to fight. Orochimaru and Kabuto just laughed as Orochimaru bent forward and pinned her wrists down on either side of her head, still thrusting.

Kabuto knelt down, popping the vial open, and bringing it closer to Sakura's lips. She pressed them shut, refusing to open them. Kabuto laughed again, giving Orochimaru a look. Sakura's lips parted on a gasp as Orochimaru began rubbing the area above her filled opening. Kabuto took advantage of her shock, and poured the contents of the vial down her throat. She began choking, but Kabuto just began rubbing her throat, triggering the muscles in her throat, causing her to swallow. The potion had a pleasant taste, but Sakura knew why. This potion was made to enhance sexual pleasure to the max.

Once the potion hit her system, Sakura could no longer think. The friction caused by Orochimaru's penis and tongue were too much. A sensation began to take over her, starting from her groin, and slowly moving up her body, burning her blood. Finally, when the sensation grew too large, Sakura screamed, her body tensing up like never before, then releasing suddenly, leaving Sakura breathless. She hadn't even realized that her back had arched, until she collapsed back down to the ground. Her chest heaved as she panted, but Orochimaru wasn't done yet. He continued to thrust, an insane grin on his face.

"That was much better than any of the screams Sasuke gave," he said, another laugh escaping from his lips.

"Yes, and I haven't even joined in yet," Kabuto laughed along with Orochimaru. Sakura heard movement from Kabuto's direction, and gratefully welcomed the darkness again as her body began to shut down from exhaustion.

An uneasy feeling came over Itachi as he and the others arrived at Orochimaru's new hideout. They had, of course, run into some traps that had been set, undoubtedly by Kabuto. Those were easy enough to get through, and they were now standing in front of the hideout, which was cleverly hidden by trees and rocks.

"Everyone ready?" Hidan asked, coming to stand next to Itachi. They all nodded, and then disappeared, all going in different directions.

Hidan and Itachi made their way through the hideout, following the heightened chakra that was oozing throughout the building. They were doing something. Neither Akatsuki member wanted to think of what they could be doing, but they both knew it was something big enough to excite both Orochimaru and Kabuto to where their chakra was going through the roof. As they got to the entrance of a large hall, customary for all of Orochimaru's hideouts, Itachi stopped dead in his tracks. Another chakra signature had just entered the building. Hidan looked over at Itachi, brow furrowed in question.

"Sasuke's here. He just entered the hideout, and he's coming this way," Itachi's voice was a mere whisper, coated with tension.

"Fuck," was all Hidan could say. He let out a huge breath, and looked into the hall. "Well, we can't wait for him, we need to get in there," Itachi nodded, and they both entered the hall silently, making no sound as they moved like shadows behind the pillars. The tension began to build higher as they made their way to the center, where there was a large clearing. The sight that greeted them nearly knocked both of them off their feet.

Orochimaru and Kabuto were standing in the middle of the clearing, looking perfectly comfortable, and even worse, prepared. At their feet, was Sakura, completely naked, and body torn and bloody. Itachi had to hold Hidan back as he made a move to charge the sannin and his servant. Hidan growled, but went silent after a look from Itachi, who then shook his head, and gestured to the other side of the clearing. Deidara and Kisame were lying in wait, watching Hidan and Itachi, eyes occasionally flitting to the injured Sakura at their feet. All four members felt a rage they had never felt before.

Itachi waited a couple of moments until he felt Sasuke's chakra signature in the hall, then nodded to Kisame and Deidara. They nodded back, and disappeared. Hidan looked over at Itachi, once again confused. Itachi just shook his head and watched Orochimaru and Kabuto. A couple seconds later, the pillars in the hall began exploding, and water suddenly rushed in. Orochimaru and Kabuto both looked over in surprise then jumped away, Kabuto grabbing Sakura. Hidan looked over at Itachi with a grin, and they both took off after Orochimaru, letting Deidara and Kisame go after Kabuto and Sakura. Itachi guessed that Sasuke would go after Sakura first, then come after Orochimaru. Of course, he would get a nasty shock when he saw Kisame and Deidara. Then again, he had probably already sensed all of them, and knew they were there. He would still be surprised.

He was. Sasuke had gone after Kabuto the instant he had jumped off. His plan was to get Sakura, then Orochimaru. The fact that Kabuto had found a way to bring him back really did not make Sasuke jump for joy. On the contrary, he had nearly thrown up when he had heard. Right now his main problem was that he was not the only one going after Kabuto and Sakura. Two of the Akatsuki were. So now he had to wonder what they were doing there. He had heard that they had taken her captive, but he was surprised at how badly they seemed to want her back. Even his brother was there. The whole situation made Sasuke uneasy.

He watched as the two Akatsuki members overtook Kabuto, pinning him against a nearby wall. They had made it out of the hall by this time, and were now in another corridor. The member that Sasuke remembered as being called Kisame, pinned Kabuto against a wall, while the blond one, Deidara, grabbed Sakura. Sasuke waited as both members began threatening Kabuto. Once Deidara got distracted, Sasuke ran as fast and quiet as he could towards him, grabbed Sakura, and took off. He heard Deidara yelling behind him, and Kisame telling him to go after him. Sasuke sped up, and quickly made his way out of the hideout.

Itachi heard Hidan curse beside him as Orochimaru ran from them. He seemed to understand that if he got caught, he would die. Therefore, he put as much speed on as he could. However, Itachi merely pointed at him, and Orochimaru soon stopped. He turned around, then frowned. Itachi knew it was because he couldn't see them.

"Where are you? I know you're there. Take me out of this illusion Itachi," Orochimaru's voice was calm, but Itachi and Hidan could still detect the hysteria growing in it.

"Do you want to do the honors, or should I?" Hidan asked, still watching Orochimaru as he began to spin around, trying to find the two that were standing right in front of him.

"I'll do it," Itachi said. Hidan backed up, holding a hand out, pointing in the direction of the confused Orochimaru.

As Itachi approached, Orochimaru made a guess at where his two targets could be, and launched his tongue out; bearing the sword he kept in there. Itachi took advantage of Orochimaru's stupid mistake, and grabbed his tongue. Pulling it out to its full length, Itachi then took the sword and cut out the tongue. He heard a disgusted noise come from Hidan, but ignored it. Orochimaru screamed in pain, then began choking on the blood that was pouring from the stump that was left of his tongue.

"That was for hurting the woman I love," Itachi said, making sure that Orochimaru would be the only one to hear it. He had never said that he loved her before, but it felt right. Strange, but right. Orochimaru paused, still choking, and looked up at Itachi, whom he could now see. Itachi bent down, sword in hand, and looked Orochimaru straight in the eye.

"I would normally put someone under one of my illusions, but I want to be able to do this with my own hands. I will now kill you not only for Sakura, but for my brother, whom you also hurt," after speaking these words, which he still kept so only Orochimaru could hear them, Itachi stood, swung the sword, and cut the sannin's head off. He automatically turned away, and began walking out of the hideout, sword still in hand. Hidan walked after him, a shocked look on his face.

Once they got outside, they saw Sasuke heading off with Sakura in his arms, Deidara and Kisame following, though Kisame was farther behind than Deidara. Itachi took on a sudden burst of speed, and landed in front of Sasuke. Sasuke stopped, looking at Itachi in surprise, then anger.

"I won't let you have her," he said, voice dripping with rage and hate.

"I know how much you hate me Sasuke, but I'm afraid that I can't let you take her. You are going back into exile, and I won't let her go into that. She should go back to the Leaf Village," Sasuke, Hidan, Deidara and Kisame all looked at Itachi in complete and utter shock.

"Why? I thought you took her captive,"

"We did. Now I'm letting her go," Itachi watched his brother's face, so like his own, pull into confusion and suspicion.

"I can't trust you. You would probably just take her back to the Akatsuki hideout," he backed up, his stance defensive.

"I assure you, I wouldn't take her back to Akatsuki. I'm not even going back. After I take her back to the village, I am going into hiding. Not exactly the position I would like to take, but I would still have free reign to do what I wanted. Something I don't have in Akatsuki," Sasuke's face only went further into suspicion, and he backed away even further.

Turning his attention away for a moment, Itachi turned to Kisame. "What did you do to Kabuto?" he asked.

"Killed him. Slit his throat," Kisame stated, tone conversational. Itachi nodded, then turned back to Sasuke. Right as Sasuke opened his mouth to speak, kunai flew from nowhere in his direction. Itachi knocked some of them out of the way with some of his own kunai, while Sasuke jumped off. However, he jumped right into Tobi. He didn't even have time to turn around before he was suddenly thrown aside, Sakura torn from his arms.

Itachi looked up in anger at Tobi, whom he knew to be Madara at that moment. "Tobi" brought his hand up in a salute, then took off, completely disappearing from sight. The others went after him, even Sasuke, but as Itachi looked around, he noticed Deidara missing from the group.

"Where did Deidara go?" he asked. None of the others knew.

Two hours later, they still had not caught up with either Deidara or Madara. Itachi called for a break, but the instant they stopped, Sasuke attacked him. Five minutes were spent with Itachi dodging all of his brother's attacks, refusing to administer some of his own, and the other two trying to cut in. Itachi finally just gave in and landed a hard kick and punch on Sasuke, knocking him to the ground long enough for Hidan and Kisame to pin him down. They struggled for a couple minutes, but Sasuke finally stilled, looking up at his older brother with so much hate that most people would be frightened. Not Itachi He looked down at Sasuke, face impassive as always.

"We do not have time to fight right now. We both have the same goal, and can not afford to lose sight of it. You care enough about her to sacrifice at least that much, don't you?" Itachi pulled out the card he knew would get Sasuke to submit. Sure enough, after a couple of moment's struggle, he nodded. Itachi nodded to Kisame and Hidan, who got off of Sasuke, freeing him.

"You seem to care about her too, though if I hadn't seen it in your eyes, I wouldn't have believed it. I'm still having trouble believing it," Sasuke looked up at Itachi, hate still burning in his eyes, but his aura calmer, almost curious. Itachi nodded.

"I do. She was the first one after you to see me as a human. I can not explain to you now the reasons I did what I have done, but you should know by now that I have no intention of killing you. Our last fight should have proven that," he looked back into Sasuke's eyes. After a moment, Sasuke nodded. Kisame and Hidan just stood by, watching.

"I will work with you to get her back, and I won't attack you, but that doesn't mean anything besides that fact that I want to get her back safely. Even if you do not, I still want to kill you," with that, he turned his back, and began off again. Itachi went after him silently, Kisame and Hidan following after looking at each other in confusion.

After a couple more hours, they finally came upon "Tobi", lying on the ground. His chakra signature was low, and there was evidence of an explosion. "Tobi's" body was torn by the blast, and he was lying on the ground, breath catching on the blood that was filling his lungs. Itachi went and stood over him, turning and gesturing to Sasuke to follow.

"Madara, you should meet Sasuke before you die. He's another one whose life you ruined," Itachi's voice was cold and dispassionate as he looked down on his dying ancestor. Madara said nothing, just looked at him. "So how did Deidara get to you?" Itachi asked, tone going more on the conversational side now. A laugh escaped Madara's lips, but was soon cut off as he choked on more blood.

"Tobi took over," he said, shaking his head. "I was about to kill that little bastard, but Tobi took over, and told Deidara to kill him. Well, that stupid Blondie grabbed hold of me, and set the bomb off. I barely managed to get away from him, but was still too close to the blast. He got the full effect, and that little pile of ashes over there is what's left of him," Madara nodded to the very center of charred earth, and, sure enough, there was a small pile of ashes, the Akatsuki ring resting in the middle. A growl came from behind Itachi, and he had to again hold Hidan back as he lunged at Madara.

"You fucking bastard. Where the hell is Sakura?" he asked, still struggling to get past Itachi. Once again, Madara laughed.

"She's dead. I managed to kill her on my way here, and that's part of the reason Deidara was so bent on killing me. None of you will ever see her again." He looked only at Itachi now. "Maybe now you will be able to fulfill your missions. She made you weak. But now that she's gone, there's nothing stopping you," this time Sasuke lunged at him, but Itachi stopped him also.

"I had planned on fighting you at some point, but it looks like Deidara beat me to it. Still, I will be the one to kill you. The thing you do not realize, Madara, is that there is still a way for Uchiha brothers to live without killing each other. You were so blinded by your need for power, that you couldn't see that. Your power took over, and you lost all humanity. I may be weak in your eyes, but I am the one that will survive. By giving up your emotions, and killing our clan, you are the one who will die," Itachi pulled out the sword he had taken from Orochimaru, and raised it over his head. Right as he was about to plunge it down into Madara's chest, Sasuke grabbed his arm.

"Wait. Let me as well," Itachi nodded, and once Sasuke had taken out his sword too, they both plunged them into their ancestor's chest, snuffing out his existence completely. There was a couple of moment's silence, then a sigh from Hidan.

"Well fuck. What are we going to do now?" he looked at Kisame and Itachi.

"I say we continue on with our organization, but do it our own way." He looked at Itachi, who remained still. Sasuke looked at him.

"You're thinking of going back to the village, aren't you?" Itachi looked up at him, gazing straight into his eyes. "You do realize they will arrest you. Unless…" Sasuke looked away, his face obviously torn on some inner conflict. He turned back to Itachi, face intense. "How many of our clan did you kill?" he asked, eyes pleading Itachi to tell the truth.

"Not many. Only the ones who accused me, and father,"

"What about mother?"

"That was Madara. Although, I did kill Shisui," he kept his eyes on Sasuke's and watched as his brother continued his conflict.

"You did all that because of Madara, right? You told me he practically raised you. So why did you tell me you wanted to kill me and gain my eyes?"

"Because I wanted you to fight with everything you had. I wanted to see how strong you really were. In the end though, I knew how strong you had become, but I couldn't really take your eyes. I never wanted to. Just like you wanted to find a different way to power than mine, I wanted to find one different from Madara's. When I was younger, I had him teaching me everything he knew, but I was also able to watch you grow up, innocent and free. That kept me sane. You kept me sane. By staying sane, I was able to remain defiant, plan how I was eventually going to kill Madara," Itachi paused, watching Sasuke's reaction. He was speechless, so Itachi continued. "Once I joined Akatsuki, I began to lose that sanity. There was a point in time that I actually thought I would be able to take your eyes. I was proven wrong. Then, when Sakura came around, she was my new way of staying sane. She's so like you were. Kind and gentle; understanding. She saw right through the façade I put up, treating me like any other human man," he stopped; Sasuke knew the rest.

There was another break. Kisame and Hidan watched the two brothers, both just as shocked at Itachi's confessional as Sasuke. Sasuke turned away from Itachi, holding his head in his hands, not sure what to do. Another five minutes went by, then Sasuke turned back to Itachi.

"I will take you to the village, tell them how it was Madara and not you, and see what happens from there. I still do not trust you, and can not forgive you, but I want to see what happens if you are really determined to go back. I know first-hand what kind of an influence Sakura can have on people. However, if you make one wrong move, I will kill you," Sasuke's threat was sincere; they could all see it in his eyes. Itachi nodded though, and walked toward Sasuke. Kisame and Hidan remained where they were.

"Well…I guess we'll go back and do what we want. Of course, we'll have to kick Pein off his pedestal, but that won't be too hard. Then we can do the missions we want without getting into too much trouble…hopefully," Kisame said. His tone was light, but he was almost completely ignored. Everyone was thinking about what Madara had said, and wondering if he had told the truth.

"She's alive," Itachi finally said. "I know she's alive. He wouldn't have said that the way he did if he really had killed her. He would have given us every detail. We just need to find her," he looked at Sasuke, then Hidan and Kisame. All of them nodded.

"So then…I guess this is goodbye for now. Hopefully we can find some way to work together to find her," Hidan looked at the others. Sasuke and Itachi nodded.

"It will help to have criminals on our side who have as many connections as you guys do. I'm sure Tsunade will see it the same way," Sasuke said.

"So have you already gone back to the village?" Kisame asked, looking at Sasuke with his brow raised.

"Quite some time ago. Naruto brought me back, and managed to convince Tsunade I was trustworthy, though it took four months of house arrest and being escorted everywhere by Naruto to fully convince her. The only reason I'm out now is because I knew where Orochimaru's hideout was, and everybody ganged up on Tsunade to let me go," he looked over at Itachi. "You, however, will have a harder time," he didn't sound too disappointed.

"I was already preparing for that," Itachi said softly.

"Well then, with that happy note, we should leave now," Kisame looked over at the brothers, who nodded.

"Life's definitely going to be fucking different," Hidan said, sighing as he looked over at Deidara's ashes. He picked up the ring, then, with a slight wave to the Uchiha brothers, took off with Kisame. After a couple moments uncomfortable silence, the brothers also left.

Ten months later:

Sunlight poured in through the small window, waking up the small red-headed girl in the chair. She had fallen asleep in the chair instead of the bed because of the small baby in her arms. As she opened her eyes, she looked down at her precious boy. His black hair, which had surprised everyone at being there when he was born, was downy soft as she caressed it. Her precious Shisui. She didn't even know where the name had come from, but for some reason, it fit. His brilliant green eyes matched hers, but the rest of him looked nothing like her. He looked like his father. However, she didn't even know what his father looked like.

Ten months ago, she had woken up in the town hospital, no memories whatsoever about who she was, or anything that had happened to her. The doctors had said that it had been a miracle that she had survived whatever she had gone through, and that she was pregnant. The next nine months were spent trying to figure out who she was. That, of course, had proven to be quite difficult. All she knew, was that she was a small woman of twenty, proven by a couple tests, with red hair, green eyes, and was somehow very good at healing. She now had a job at the hospital because of this. As to her appearance, she always felt that there was something wrong with the long, red hair, but decided not to question it. If she couldn't remember anything, then she wouldn't judge anything either.

Recently though, she had been having strange dreams, some of them utterly horrific. Others were amazingly happy though. She liked to think that some of them were her memories trying to come back to her. The doctors told her that could be it, but that she couldn't count on it. Her own knowledge of medicine told her that it was very likely that her memories were only able to break through the unconscious for the time being. For now, she was perfectly happy with that. It was a step in the right direction. She hoped that she would soon recover all of her memories.

At the gates of the town, two men stood, looking out at the people going about their daily lives. However, they causing quite a disruption, seeing as how they were two amazingly gorgeous men, and they were brothers. Sasuke and Itachi had gotten a lead from Hidan that there was a healer in the town who had come out of nowhere ten months ago, badly injured. Though some of the physical description didn't quite match up, they decided to check it out. The main problem, she was said to have no memories of who she was before she was dropped off in the town. However, they both had a feeling that it was Sakura.

"Time to go find her," Sasuke said, still looking at the town.

"Let's hope we can get her to remember," Itachi said, face and voice as impassive as ever, but aura a lot more approachable, if you can ever call Itachi approachable. A slight smile lit Sasuke's features.

"I'm sure you can get her to remember," he said. The corners of Itachi's mouth threatened to tug upward, but he resisted.

"We can only hope," he said, and they both set off down the street.

A.N. Wow. That was one long chapter. If it seemed rushed, I am terribly sorry. I tried so hard not to rush any of it, and I will go back to explain some things from the end, so don't worry. So, even though Deidara dies a lot earlier in the manga, it was still so hard to kill him. But, he got to help kill Madara, so he didn't die in vain. He also did something else before he died, but that's in the next chapter. Hehe…love to make you wait. This chapter was incredibly hard for me to write in so many places because I have never written about major violence before, and especially not vindictive or violence based on revenge. It was just really hard to write, but I got it done, and I hope I did it well. About the whole rushed thing, the bulk of this was written, again, late at night, and I'm sick and tired (bunch of things going on) so my mind isn't quite working as well as it should right now. Lol. So I apologize ahead of time.

To SasukeSakuraxXxItachiSakura: What part in choir are you? I was happy to see someone reply to that part of my note. Thank you!

To J'ecrite: Your comments made me laugh. I read them, (the ones on chapter ten and eleven) and they seriously made my day. Thank you so much!

To Sam: My spring break is going pretty well right now…just kinda boring. I'm home alone all week, and don't have a car to drive, and I live in the country, so I'm sorta stuck. However, my uncle just gave me the move "August Rush", and it is absolutely amazing. Makes me cry every time. Yes, I do read the manga, and have been trying to watch the anime, but I watch it on youtube, and they keep deleting the episodes. Very depressing. As are the recent chapters!! I've seriously been so depressed after reading those chapters. Oh well…it's not over yet….something good could still happen. (Ever the optimist.) To the rest of you, thank you so much for your reviews! Slant agat!! --Kat


	13. Chapter 13

Mikami was very anxious as she walked around her house. Normally, Shisui was very quiet and happy except for when he was hungry, needed to be changed, wanted attention, or didn't feel good. Things were different that morning. Even when Mikami had checked everything, fed him, changed him, and even checked his health, he cried nonstop. She didn't know what to do. There was nothing particular about the day, though even she felt like something was up, but she didn't expect her one-month-old baby son to feel that. Then again, he had surprised her and others around her with some of the strange things he could do, such as change his eye color to red. That made some of the villagers uncomfortable, but they all loved him anyway.

Another little talent of his, that had come to drive his mother crazy, was knack of starting fires. This never ceased to amuse him, except for when his mother's back was turned, and something actually ended up getting burned pretty badly. However, Mikami now watched her son like a hawk, making sure that any sparks he emitted were quickly put out. She had already started telling him that it was bad to start fires. One of her worst fears was what he would be like at two and three. Right now though, she was more focused on trying to find a way to calm him down. After hurriedly getting ready, she picked him up, put him in a backpack she had to carry him around in, and set off down the street.

The instant she walked outside, his screaming only got worse. People from the village began looking at her in pity.

"Has he been fed?" One woman asked, coming over to Mikami with a concerned frown on her face. Mikami nodded, and then explained everything she had done to try and calm him. Other people were not so understanding. Quite a few people complained on the early hour, and others just told her to find a way to shut him up. These people she only glared at. Lucky for her, and everyone else, the complainers were only a small percent.

"Maybe he wants his father," Mikami turned to one of the doctors from the hospital who also had a day off. "Sometimes, if a baby doesn't have a father, they will still feel the loss, and that can cause them to cry,"

"Well…I don't know what to do then," Mikami looked up at the female doctor, a look of helplessness on her face. The woman took Mikami to a nearby stream, and sat her down, seeing the tears that had begun to well in Mikami's eyes.

"Maybe you could try and get together with someone. There have been many men who have expressed an interest in you, and love Shisui as well,"

Mikami looked up at the woman and smiled. "You know why I can't do that. I know many of them are kind and gentle and would be wonderful for Shisui, but…" she sighed, letting her head fall into her hands.

"You still love his father, even if you don't know him," the woman answered, nodding her head.

"I can't help it Nani. Whenever I look at Shisui, I feel all the love for my son, but also for someone else. I know it's his father, I just don't know who or where he is,"

"Well, judging by you son's looks, the father is obviously handsome. Tall, dark…" Nani stopped giving another sigh. Mikami gave her a slight hit on the shoulder.

"You're married!" she said.

"A woman can still dream about gorgeous men," Nani replied, completely ignoring the hit she had gotten. Mikami just laughed, then groaned as Shisui screamed louder.

"Well, I'm going to continue walking, see if I can't get him to sleep," she said, waving a goodbye to Nani, then walking back into town.

By now, the village was completely awake and busy with people walking to places and from places. The noise helped to slightly quiet Shisui, but he continued his cries of misery. People still turned and gave the exhausted mother looks of pity, but she just ignored them. She was praying incredibly hard for something to calm her son down. As she got closer to the hospital, she caught sight of two men, two gorgeous men, asking one of the vendors she knew about something. The vendor caught sight of her, and pointed her out to the two men. Confused, Mikami walked closer. The shorter of the two men walked up to her first. Something about him seemed incredibly familiar.

"Are you Mikami?" his voice triggered something in Mikami…pain. She shook it off and she answered.

"Yes. How may I help you?" she looked to the taller as he joined the other man in front of her. A sudden intense emotion hit Mikami like a ton of bricks. She couldn't quite identify it, but she knew one thing; she knew these two men, and was pretty sure that she was in love with the taller. He seemed to notice her struggle, for he frowned, but spoke as if he hadn't noticed anything.

"We would like to ask you a few questions about how you got here," he said, voice smooth and silky. It made her melt.

"I'm afraid I can't help you with that. I don't remember anything except for after I woke up in the hospital," she hadn't noticed before, but Shisui seemed to have calmed down. The two men in front of her hadn't noticed anyway. The shorter nodded at her response, then looked her straight in the eye.

"Can you tell us someone who would know?" he asked.

"Tell me your names first," Mikami said, voice strong and defiant. Both men started, then recovered, both sets of eyes set in determination.

"I am Uchiha Sasuke, this is my brother, Uchiha Itachi," he continued to speak, but a loud buzz had filled Mikami's ears. She knew those names. She loved both of the men who held those names, but couldn't remember why. Their faces and names also still seemed a bit cloudy.

"Are you alright?" Mikami snapped out of her trance and looked up at Itachi and nodded.

"I'm sorry, just tired," she said. Which was true. Shisui had kept her up all night. Just as she thought that, Shisui began to scream again. As she sighed and took off her pack so she could hold him, Mikami saw the looks of pure shock on the two men's faces. She spoke again, trying to act as if she couldn't see their expressions. "Sorry. He's been crying all day for no reason. He's normally not like this," she bounced a little as she spoke, shushing and cooing while Shisui continued to cry.

"What's his name?" Itachi's voice was quiet, almost broken. Mikami looked up at him, not sure what to make of his reaction. He and Sasuke were just staring down at her son, shock still evident, but now mixing with other emotions.

"Shisui," she said. Now their reactions got larger. Both men went pale, but then Itachi smiled. He brought a hand up to his eyes, and gave a soft laugh. Sasuke continued looking down at Shisui in shock, then also smiled. Mikami looked at both of them, confused and slightly frightened.

"May I hold him?" Itachi seemed to have recovered from whatever had taken over him, and now looked down at Mikami with a gentle smile. Unable to think coherently, she nodded, handing her son over to the strange man. The instant her baby was settled in Itachi's arms, he stopped crying. Now the shock turned to Mikami, who watched silently as Itachi cooed to the baby in his arms. As she watched, she saw the complete mirror of her son's face in the man's. Already exhausted, she began to feel dizzy, and soon let darkness cloud her vision. Sasuke caught her, and with a nod from Itachi, they both walked to the hospital, only feet away.

Itachi stood next to Sakura's bed, looking down at her. Sasuke was outside right now, taking care of his son. He paused, passing a hand over his eyes. His son. It was hard to swallow. It had only taken one night. At least he could tell it was his, and not Orochimaru's. Shisui had proven that once he had looked up at his father with red eyes. The beginning of the Sharingan, but even Itachi had not shown the signs until he was three. If his son could already change his eyes, he couldn't even fathom how fast he would learn everything else. Then there was just the fact that he had a son. His life had taken a complete turn the last ten months.

Arriving back at the Leaf Village had caused quite a stir. Itachi had been automatically taken into custody, and put into confinement. Sasuke had been taken to Tsunade to explain what had happened. According to Sasuke's later report, when he had finally decided to talk to Itachi, Tsunade hadn't believed him at first. She had asked him time and time again why he had brought Itachi back alive. Then, she had just shaken her head once Sasuke told her about how Madara had been the one behind the Uchiha massacre. Sasuke had had to tell her that he had seen Madara with his own two eyes before she even seemed to consider the situation. However, even after Sasuke had talked to her, Tsunade kept Itachi in confinement for about a month. When she finally did decide to let him out, she put him to a test first.

Uzumaki Naruto had been the one to bring him out of confinement. Confused, Itachi followed Naruto outside, and then into the nearby woods. The whole time, Naruto had been uncharacteristically quiet. Once they got into the woods, he spun around, and began firing questions on Itachi about Sakura, what they had done to her, and every detail he could get. Itachi answered Naruto's questions calmly, and as detailed as he could. He knew that Naruto needed the answers, and needed to see the sincerity in his eyes. Though it was still nearly impossible to show emotion, Itachi tried his very best to show any emotion he could throughout his questioning. After nearly twenty minutes, Naruto asked Itachi about his feelings for Sakura. Using all the willpower he had, Itachi told Naruto everything he felt for her with as much feeling as possible. Though it was easy to say how he felt, showing the emotion proved to be incredibly difficult. It got the message through, and Naruto took Itachi back to the village, a smile on his face.

Naruto had gone back to the village and told anyone who would listen how much Itachi had changed. After that, though he was allowed to walk around, Itachi was watched remarkably closely. Some of his watchers were people who were assigned to make sure he didn't do anything rash, and others…well…others were there to see if what Naruto said was true. However, the onlookers were always at least five feet away. No one wanted to go near Itachi. It was made worse by the fact that his brother still kept as far a distance as possible, and glared whenever given the chance. Itachi just ignored this though. He didn't mind keeping to himself, and actually used the time to plan how to find Sakura. Hidan managed to find ways into the village, and sneak into the Uchiha property to talk to Itachi.

The only times Sasuke was willing to talk to Itachi were when Hidan would come by with news. After that, he just ignored him. Finally, Itachi just cornered him in their house, and forced him to sit and listen to all Itachi had to say about what their clan had actually cared about; the fact that they only thought about their bloodline, and how their father only cared for power. Sasuke had watched him coldly the entire time, until Itachi got to the part about how Sasuke was the only one he had cared about, and the fact that he had wanted to keep their mother alive because she was the only one there for Sasuke. It felt like hours, though it was only one, while Itachi talked.

He had started out by holding Sasuke against a wall, but then let go as he got further into his explanation. For the first time since he had been with Sakura, Itachi let his emotions take over. His voice rose, he began pacing; he was so determined to make Sasuke see. The entire time he talked, Itachi hadn't looked at his younger brother. When he was done explaining everything he could possibly explain, he looked back to his brother, and saw tears flowing down his face. He took a step toward him, but Sasuke put up a hand, wiped away the tears, and turned away from Itachi. After that, Sasuke began to act more like himself. Of course, it's hard to get over the fact that everything you've lived for was for nothing. Still, Sasuke managed to find a way to live through that.

Naruto, as Naruto is want to do, saw that Sasuke was starting to trust Itachi, and also began to trust him. He soon began walking with Itachi whenever he saw him on the street, and talking to him. Needless to say, Itachi was slightly surprised. However, everyone else in the village still treated him like an outsider, but again, it didn't bother Itachi that much. The more his brother began to interact with him, the less and less Itachi worried about the rest of the village. He had known the instant he decided to join Sasuke back to the village, that he would be an outsider. Mind you, he hadn't really expected things to go so well to where he would actually be seen by the village, but nonetheless, he had known that he would basically be an untouchable. What did surprise him, and slightly bother him, was the fact that many of the villagers treated Sasuke the same.

Sasuke, Itachi later learned, had actually come back to the village when Sakura was still there, but Tsunade had decided to keep him a secret from both her and Naruto. That was easily done since they both had a lot of missions they had to complete. Once Itachi and the other Akatsuki members kidnapped Sakura, Tsunade saw fit to tell Naruto about Sasuke, and a couple months later, she let him wander around the village. Sasuke and Naruto occasionally joked that when Sakura found out, she would kill Tsunade. That joke only lasted about a second before they both remembered why she still didn't know. Well, she would know now…if she ever remembered any of them.

Itachi was shaken out of his reminiscing when he heard Sakura stir. He turned to her, and saw her brilliant green eyes open and on him. As he looked at her, he realized how much the red hair bothered him. She noticed his frown, and frowned back.

"What is it?" she asked, voice slightly defiant. He almost smiled. There was his Sakura. Even if she didn't remember who she was, she still had her personality.

"Your hair. Is that your natural color?" he asked, trying to find some way to not insult her. Her frown deepened.

"I don't know. I would hope not, it doesn't feel right," she reached up and took a strand, looking at the fiery color with distaste.

"There's a way to find out," Itachi said, bringing his hands up. He had a feeling he knew exactly how she got her fake hair color, and luckily, it was something he could remedy. After performing a couple of hand signs, he touched her hair, which instantly went back to the bright pink he so enjoyed. She looked at it, then at him.

"How did you know what to do?" she asked, sincerely bewildered.

"I learned the jutsu for changing one's appearance. So did you, you just don't remember," he kept his eyes on her, watching her reaction. She sighed, then looked down.

"It appears that there a lot of things I don't remember," she looked back up at him. "You're Shisui's father, aren't you?" her eyes were intense and pleading as they searched him. He nodded, still shaken that even though she had lost her memory, she had chosen his best friend's name. She nodded back, then went back into silence for a couple more moments, thinking.

"How well do you know me?" her voice was soft, and she kept her head down as she asked the question.

"Very well," Itachi responded, voice light and slightly amused. Her head snapped up.

"You find that funny?" her voice wasn't angry, just amused.

"If you haven't noticed already, you're quite a different personality," he said, letting a smile light his features. Smiles were easy around her, especially now. Seeing his smile, she smiled in return, then laughed.

"I have noticed that I can be quite stubborn and difficult," she said, voice proud.

"Hmm…there's an understatement," Itachi's dry comment made her laugh again, something that made him want to laugh with her. Another moment of silence passed as she finished laughing, then she looked up at him again, eyes open and vulnerable.

"What's my name? My real name," the question nearly knocked him flat. He hadn't expected this.

"Sakura. Haruno Sakura," he said, his voice flat and impassive again. She nodded.

"It fits. Feels right," she smiled for a moment, then went serious again. "Itachi…"

Itachi started, surprised to hear her use his name. "Yes?"

"Did we…did we love each other?" she kept her eyes on him, searching; unembarrassed.

"I still do," he said. Then, "I still love you," The whole ten months they had been separated, he had realized how much he had wanted to say those words to her. She saw the sincerity, and obviously felt something, for she smiled brightly, radiant with happiness.

"I was so afraid that my son had come from a loveless relationship, or event. Although, I felt something. Every time I looked at him, I felt the love for him, and someone else. I don't know you, and yet I feel it," she continued to look at him, wanting him to see what she felt. He did. She reached her hand out to him, which he took in his in a second.

"You don't seem like you're very comfortable showing your emotions," she observed, brow furrowing for a moment. He shook his head. Another smile lit her features. "Strong and serious, yet soft beneath. I can see how I would fall for that," she laughed as he looked at her, not knowing how to react. This was how Sasuke found them as he walked back in with his nephew.

"Do you remember?" he asked, going to stand next to his brother. Her laugh stopped, but she kept her smile in place as she shook her head. Sasuke just nodded, trying not to show the disappointment. After a couple awkward seconds, he passed Shisui back to Sakura. As Sakura cooed to her son, Itachi explained what had happened and what he had told her.

"So how did she get her red hair?" Sasuke asked after Itachi explained how he had given her her pink hair back.

"Deidara is the one who probably dropped her off here, and probably changed that part of her because he wanted her to remain hidden, and her hair is something that everyone would recognize her for," Sasuke nodded.

"So how do you and my son get along?" Sakura asked, looking up at Sasuke. He smiled, one of his few true smiles.

"He's been raised very well," he said, watching his nephew with affection. Sakura laughed lightly.

"I've tried. He's only a month old though. They're fairly easy to deal with at this point. Except when they start fires," she looked down at Shisui with a sigh. The Uchiha brothers looked at each other, shocked.

"He can start fires?" Itachi asked quietly. Sakura looked up at them, and laughed.

"You both look like the world is ending. Yes, he can start fires. They aren't too bad right now, just little sparks on cloth or paper. Not too hard to put out. I'm just dreading two and three years from now," she laughed again, but it was an exhausted laugh. Then she looked back up at Itachi. "The fire comes from you, and the eyes," it was more of a statement than a question, but Itachi nodded.

"Uchihas are known for their affinity for fires, and their Sharingan, which is they eye bloodline limit," as demonstration, he changed his eyes into his own pinwheel version.

"Will he get the pinwheels?" Sakura asked, looking closely at Itachi's eyes. He closed them, changing them back before he looked at her again.

"Yes. He will start with one, then gain two and three as he gets stronger," He would not mention the Mangekyou. Both he and Sasuke had agreed that they would not let that technique be taught to any more Uchihas. It only caused destruction. Sakura nodded, and the four of them spent the next hour catching up on all of Sakura's questions.

By the time Sakura was released from the hospital, it was nearly dark. The doctors had spent much of the day doing tests to make sure she was healthy and that there were no complications, even though she had told them countless times that she was fine. Sasuke and Itachi escorted her out, and walked her home. As they got to her house, they both turned to go, but Sakura dragged them inside, telling them that they were going to stay in her house for the duration of their stay. Not wanting to go against the fiery mother they both knew to be incredibly strong, they both obeyed quietly.

Once inside, they both noticed how "Sakura" her house was. Incredibly neat, but not so much where anyone who walked in would feel uncomfortable. The only thing that had changed was the fact that it seemed much more motherly. The explanation for that was obvious. Both men were pleased to see that the house was fairly large, giving her plenty of room, which her personality demanded. After letting them explore the house a bit, Sakura led them to their rooms, which were on the first floor. Hers and Shisui's were on the second floor. Sasuke stayed in his room to look around as Sakura took Itachi down the hall to his. For some reason, she felt awkward as she showed him his room. He seemed to notice her discomfort, but didn't say anything. Sakura was relieved for the excuse to leave as her son cried. Unfortunately, Itachi followed her. She found it only natural, considering he was his father.

Sasuke had been holding Shisui the whole trip back, but now passed him over to Sakura, looking incredibly happy to give the suddenly upset baby to his mother. As is natural with most mothers, Sakura knew exactly what was wrong, and, after feeding him, went upstairs to put him to bed. Itachi followed her upstairs, while Sasuke decided to stay downstairs. Once again, Sakura felt incredibly awkward and uncomfortable. It wasn't that she didn't trust Itachi for any reason, because she knew that he was the father. That much had been made obvious when he had taken Shisui. However, she knew that they must have had a close relationship, especially with what Itachi had said in the hospital. Still, since she didn't remember anything, she didn't know how to act. As far as her memory told her, she didn't know this man at all.

Trying to ignore her unease, Sakura focused on trying to get her son to sleep. Letting motherly instinct take over, she began to sing a song that had been in her head since she had given birth, but didn't know where it came from. She could only guess that it must have been something her mother had sung to her. As she had hoped, the lilting melody caused her son's eyes to close, and he was soon fast asleep. A smile remained on her face as she stroked his hair, completely forgetting that there was someone else in the room with her, until another hand joined hers. Barely repressing a jolt, she turned her head to see Itachi, looking down at their son with unreadable eyes. The whole day, he had seemed confused, overwhelmed, anything a man should be when in his position. And yet, people in the village had commented on his complete lack of emotion. Somehow, Sakura had managed to see past that, and see all of his feelings.

"Were there any complications with the delivery?" Itachi kept his eyes on Shisui as he asked the question. Sakura looked up, surprised.

"No. Just a normal delivery. Tell me something," she took her hand away from his, resting it on the crib. "Why do you show emotions to me? You seem so closed off to everyone else," Itachi also brought his hand up, which closed her in between him and the crib.

"You taught me to. At first, it was the fact that you drove me crazy because of your constant goal to annoy me,"

"It obviously worked," Sakura smiled, proud of herself.

"Yes it did. Then you drove me crazy in a different way," his voice got softer, and he unconsciously moved closer to her. She tried to ignore the sudden burning of her skin.

"But you still don't seem like the type of person to let your emotions get the better of you,"

"If you suppress them for too long, even the coldest person will break. Besides, my brother brought up the point that I'm no longer a part of Akatsuki, and don't need to hide anymore. He was rather mad at me at that point," There was a pause, then Sakura managed to turn herself around to face him.

"Akatsuki? You were in Akatsuki? I've heard about them. They don't cause that much trouble anymore, but they used to be a group of murderers," she looked up at him in question, almost worried. He merely nodded.

"That's true, and I was one of them," he watched her expression very carefully. She remained cool, seeming to think it through carefully. He nearly smiled. That was Sakura. Taking everything coolly, thinking it through as carefully as possible. Then she nodded.

"So how did I meet you?" her voice was calm and collected.

"I kidnapped you and held you captive at the hideout," he decided to give her the straight answer, knowing that she wouldn't appreciate having something hidden from her. Once again, she nodded, taking it all in and thinking through it. Suddenly, one of her hands flew up to her head, and she pressed the heel of her hand to her temple. Itachi brought his hands up, not quite touching her, but still a sign of comfort.

"What is it?" he asked, concern softening his voice. She still didn't respond, so Itachi put his hands on either side of her head. Her hand remained on her temple, but she seemed to relax a haze more. A moment later, her face relaxed again, and she looked up at him.

"I was remembering. I…I remember…Naruto. Year ago, when I first saw you. Naruto charged you…but you put him under an illusion…" she broke off, looking away into space. Itachi brought his hands down to her shoulders, and continued to watch her. She remained silent, frozen; looking back into time. Her eyes filled with tears, and she pushed him away.

"I'm tired. I'm going to bed now," her voice was choked and distant. Itachi, not knowing what to do, let her go. As he walked downstairs, he felt an ache in place he had never felt an ache this bad before; his heart.

She remembered him. Not everything, but she remembered who he was. All of her memories up to the time she was sixteen had come rushing back to her. Sasuke, Naruto, Kakashi, Sai…all of them…but Itachi. The most important person for her to remember was still eluding her memories. What hurt the most, was the pain she had seen flash through his eyes when she had pushed him away. It tore her to pieces to see someone she cared about hurt, even when she didn't remember why she cared about that person. Still, she wanted to go back and comfort him, but couldn't. The only memories she had of him were him trying to kill Naruto and Sasuke. How could she have found a way to care for the one person she had learned to hate? Somehow, someway, she would remember. But for now, she needed to sleep. Tears began to fall as she climbed in bed, and accompanied her on her way to sleep.

A.N. I'm sorry if this chapter was dull. Most of it was catch up and trying to explain everything that happened. Yes…I've changed Itachi. At least it's only around Sakura, and occasionally his brother. Still, I know it's not exactly what some of you like. However, in my view, love changes everyone who gets affected by it. It can be the most powerful human emotion, especially if you've bottled it up for so long. Anywho…putting my philosophical side aside (hehe…rhyming words), the next chapter should be more exciting, I'll see how much of my ideas I put into it. There's going to some major drama in up-coming chapters, so be ready. Well…I'm back in school, which is ok, just kinda stressful. Especially since I just found out that my back is pretty much curving in a very interesting wave. It's causing me a lot of pain, and now I'm going to a chiropractor to get my spine adjusted. Very fun. Lol. It's ok, and it got me out of a horrible role in drama. I know that's bad, but hey…that role was plain evil, and I'm too happy a person to play a role as evil (and more like disgusting evil) as the role I was playing. Thank you all very much for your reviews. I would respond to some of your reviews, but I've been off the internet for a while, and haven't been able to read your most recent reviews. I will reply to all personal messages, and reviews that stand out to me in the next chapter. Slant agat! --Kat


	14. Chapter 14

When Sakura got up the next morning, she found Itachi gone and Sasuke caring for Shisui. For a moment, she just stood and watched him, surprised at how that much warmth could be found on his face. Then again, it was even more surprising that Itachi could be that warm, but he too found a way. Sadness filled her as she thought about her son and his father. If only she could remember what had happened in the last few years, especially the last year in specific. However, she had told herself that she would not dwell on it, but just let things come as they may.

"He's a sound sleeper," Sasuke's voice brought Sakura out of her thoughts. She turned to him, surprised to find him holding Shisui, bouncing a bit as he walked toward her.

"Yes he is. There have only been a couple times when he's kept me up all night. You seem comfortable with him now," she smiled softly, stroking her son's hair once Sasuke got close enough to her. Her smile faded as she decided to tell Sasuke about her memory coming back. Her eyes remained on Shisui as she tried to figure out how to tell him. He watched her closely, noticing her distress.

"What is it?" he asked, leaning his head down so he could see her eyes.

"I remember. All of my memories up until I was about sixteen. I remember all of it," she looked up into his eyes now, and saw the shock. Then he smiled.

"So you remember everyone?" he asked, voice lightening slightly as he looked at her eagerly. She tried to smile, but couldn't quite manage it.

"Yes. But…the only thing I remember about Itachi is…hating him…" her hand stopped on her son's head, but she took no notice; her mind was elsewhere.

"He went to take a walk," Sasuke's sudden remark had Sakura looked up, startled. Once she recovered, she nodded. "He's not really sure what to make of the whole situation, as I'm sure you're not,"

"No," Sakura gave a weak laugh, turning away. She passed a hand over her eyes, and then wrapped her arms around her torso, holding herself together. Sasuke came behind her, and put a hand on her shoulder after putting Shisui down in his crib. After a jolt, she relaxed, and put her hand over his, leaning into him. "When did you suddenly get so gentle? Especially towards me?" she asked the question softly, keeping her face turned away.

"When you find out that everything you've been living for is a lie, you change. I also figured that if Itachi could change that much, there was no reason I had to stay cold and detached. Besides, Naruto drove me crazy," Sakura laughed, imagining how pissed off Naruto would be at Sasuke's cold nature.

"Ok. Two questions, one; why aren't Naruto, Kakashi and Sai here? And two; why did you come here with Itachi?"

"Naruto, Kakashi and Sai are on their way. They got a little caught up with some rogue ninja. Itachi and I had left earlier because we had gotten a tip from one of our sources, and left right away,"

"Naruto's going to kill you when he gets here," Sakura turned to him, laughing. He shrugged.

"He's going to try," a wicked gleam leapt in his eyes. It faded quickly as he prepared to answer the next question. "I came here with Itachi because he and I have been working together to get you back for the past ten months,"

"What happened to me? Itachi told me how he had taken me captive, but what else happened? How did I lose my memory?" her voice took on a slightly desperate tone as she looked up into Sasuke's eyes pleading. He sighed, and nodded. After turning away from her, he told her everything he had learned from Itachi about how she had been kidnapped by Orochimaru and why, then what he was doing there. Since his back was turned, he couldn't see her reaction. Once he was done, he turned back to her, at stood stock-still. Tears were flooding her eyes, ready to fall down her cheeks. His hand seemed to twitch as he tried to reach for her, but then realized that he wouldn't know exactly what to do.

"Do you remember any of it?" he asked, keeping his eyes to the floor, trying to soften his voice as much as possible. She shook her head, also keeping her eyes to the floor. Bringing a hand up to her mouth, Sakura turned away from Sasuke and tried to compose herself. Sasuke remained where he was, completely lost as to what he should do. After a moment, Sakura turned back toward Sasuke, eyes still sparkling with tears, but her face calmer.

"I remember so much, but I can't remember anything from the time Itachi kidnapped me, up to when I arrived here," she saw Sasuke's mouth open as he prepared to talk. "Yes. I do remember more. Some of my other memories came back when you were explaining what happened. I just wish…" her voice broke, and she turned away again.

"I'm sorry. I can't even begin to imagine how hard this must be," Sasuke's voice sounded sincere but awkward. Sakura laughed.

"It must be hard for you to deal with me like this. Constantly breaking down, helpless as I try to remember everything that's happened to me," she sighed, turning to him with a smile. "I promise to try and remain normal from now on," she laughed again, and began to wipe away the tears. Throwing all thought and composure away, Sasuke rushed forward and took Sakura in his arms.

"You've changed so much, but you still cry," Sasuke's voice seemed to laugh as he spoke, but Sakura had no idea what to do. "You have no idea how it felt when I found out what had happened between you and my brother. I still do not like it, but have seen how it has changed him," he sighed again, then buried his face in her neck. For a moment, Sakura remained frozen, then wrapped her arms around him, happy to have something familiar there to hold on to.

"Well, well, well. Looks like they've found her," Sakura and Sasuke jumped apart and looked to the door to see Naruto, Kakashi, and Sai standing in the hall. Not even thinking about how the image a second ago must have seemed, Sakura ran towards them with a brilliant smile.

"Naruto!! Kakashi! Sai!" Nearly bowling them over, Sakura threw her arms around all of them. Sasuke stood behind her, face a bright red. Kakashi turned his eye to Sasuke, and gave him a reassuring wink over Sakura's shoulder.

"Looks like they found you in relative health. We were afraid that you would be in horrible shape since you didn't come back," Naruto looked at Sakura with a smile.

"Uh…well…I did lose my memory, which is why I didn't come back," Sakura replied sheepishly, looking at the three males in front of her cautiously. They stared back, blinking silently.

"Well…that would explain things. You seem to have your memories back though, so that's a good thing…" Naruto rubbed the back of his neck nervously, looking away from Sakura.

"I have all of my memories up until about a year ago," she said, all traces of a smile gone from her features. The others watched her, also somber. They all knew which memories she was missing; the most important ones.

"Oh well. I'm sure you'll get them back!" Sai gave his smile, and Sakura couldn't help but grin in response. After they all laughed and relaxed, they went back downstairs, Shisui now in Naruto's arms. None of them noticed Itachi slipping into his room, the door shutting silently.

The rest of the day went by happily, with Sakura spending as much time as she could with her comrades. She found it relaxing to spend time with them, not feeling the pressure of having to remember what had happened. Though she could feel their eyes on her in question, she ignored it, and went on conversing. They all seemed to adore Shisui, holding him in turn, each more awkward than the previous admirer. The only one who seemed fairly comfortable holding the little bundle was Sai, something quite surprising to all those who witnessed. Throughout the day, the only thought that bothered Sakura, was why Itachi had not shown his face. It was not that she knew the reason, but that the reason remained unknown to her.

No one else seemed too bothered by the fact that he had not shown up at all through the day. In contrast, they seemed content to just be by themselves. As darkness fell, the only one who seemed to even slightly notice Itachi's absence was Sasuke. He began to watch the doors, turning to stare if there was a noise outside. Sakura noticed, but kept her attention on those around her. A few hours after sundown, Kakashi stood up.

"Well. Seeing as how this house is too small to hold all of us, and we have already made reservations at an inn nearby, Naruto, Sai and I will go now and leave you to sleep. We would like to leave tomorrow," he looked at Sakura for a moment as if asking permission. Sakura merely smiled and nodded.

"Why wasn't Itachi here? He came with you didn't he?" Naruto looked to Sasuke, who shrugged.

"He came with me, but I do not know where he went. He has a habit of disappearing to go for walks," he glanced at Sakura for a moment, then turned back to Naruto. "When we leave tomorrow, he will be there with us," Naruto nodded, then looked to the other two, who also nodded. With a wave, they left, leaving Sasuke and Sakura alone.

There was a moment of silence before Sakura got up and began pacing. Sasuke watched her, his eyes following her every movement.

"Do you really think he went on a walk?" she asked, not taking her eyes away from the floor to look at him. Sasuke remained silent for a moment longer before sighing.

"Yes. He does have a habit of doing that, if only just to think," he stood up, and grabbed her shoulders to stop her pacing. She looked up at him now, eyes wide and anxious.

"I don't know him that well, at least…I don't remember knowing him that well…but I still worry," she turned away from him, trying to pace again. "It's like…all the feelings I had for him are still there…but…I can't remember how I got them, or why. It's maddening," Sasuke grabbed onto her shoulders again, holding her in place.

"Calm down. It will come back to you. You just have to be patient," he bent down to look in her eyes, but she turned her face away, refusing to look at him. "You stubborn…" he grabbed her chin and brought her face back so she had no choice but to look in his eyes. There was a moment of silence as they both stood, staring at each other, not knowing what to do, but both feeling something crackling in the air. Sasuke leaned closer, and Sakura quickly pushed away from him.

"Why are you doing this? I thought you had no interest in me," she kept her back to him, but he could hear the snap in her voice.

"That's not true. At first, I didn't. But then you grew. You grew to a point where I couldn't even recognize you anymore. I had decided that I wanted to be with you, to start my clan with," his voice got softer, but Sakura could feel him move closer to her.

"Itachi…" she breathed, finding his name the only word of protest and argument she could think of. She heard Sasuke let out a breath; it almost sounded like a laugh.

"He's the one who told me to try and convince you to come with me. He said that he didn't want you to be with him because he was too damaged. There was no way he would be able to take care of you. And…" he hesitated now, still drawing closer to her. "And…last night, he came to me, and said that he wanted me to take care of both you and Shisui. According to him, he's not fit to be a father, lover…husband. Any kind of family figure. Once we got you back to the Leaf Village, he would leave and go to another village. One where he could live peacefully,"

Sakura remained silent, digesting what Sasuke had told her. She didn't know what to make of it. All of her memories of him caused her brain to say yes. According to her memories, she still loved Sasuke, and her brain told her that this was the best situation. Ever since she was a little girl, she had dreamed of being with Sasuke, and here he was, offering her what she had always wanted. At the same time, something within her broke at the thought of Itachi leaving. Frustrating as Hell was the fact that she couldn't exactly pinpoint what hurt the most. The pain seemed to emanate from her heart, but spread through her entire body. Him leaving would cause her even more pain. Shisui too. She knew this, but couldn't explain how or why.

"I…I need to go outside and think for a little while," she took a step forward, but was suddenly spun around, and found herself in Sasuke's arms, his lips moving urgently on hers. Taken completely off-guard, Sakura's lips moved of their own accord, though she didn't really think about it. The kiss ended just as quickly as it had come. Sasuke looked intently into her eyes.

"Think about that," he said, and let her go, turning and walking to his room.

Still stunned, Sakura could only stare at the floor after he had gone. After a couple minutes, she finally moved, putting the sleeping Shisui in his crib, then going outside, all while in a trance. She went to her backyard, the one place that couldn't be seen by any of the town or its residences; something many people said was a pity, for Sakura had planted a large garden there. Now, she went to a small bench she had put out beneath the Sakura trees. The lavender, jasmine, and other scents calmed her as she took a deep breath. If only she could remember! Because of her amnesia, she was now forced to choose between the two brothers. Of course, if she was just going by what she remembered now, it would be Sasuke. Then there was the issue of her heart, and how she could feel it breaking at the very thought.

"You seem confused," Sakura started and looked up to see Itachi standing a little ways away, leaning on one of her trees. He looked so…right in the night. A beautiful enigma, seeming to shimmer in the cool moonlight. Her breath seemed to stop, and her heart skipped a beat. This was all proof to her that she did indeed have feelings for him. How could she possibly not choose him?

"I am. How could you do that? Send Sasuke to me, trying to get him to persuade me of what I want? You had no right! What happens when I remember! You know just as well as I do, if you know me at all, that it is not a matter of if!" she stood up, happy to be able to get out the frustrations that had been pent up for the past couple of days. He merely remained where he was, leaning against a tree, watching her. "Do you have any idea how hard it is for me to feel these intense emotions for you, when I have no idea how I got them, and then to have Sasuke, a man I used to love, come to me and tell me that he suddenly wants me, and that it was your idea? Can you possibly fathom what you are doing?" she strode up to him, pushing him backwards. He stumbled a bit, but easily caught his footing again.

"I know exactly what I am doing. If you remembered, you would understand," his voice was calm, and she easily missed the tension in his stance.

"Would I? Would I really understand? I obviously wouldn't if I was so keen to have sex with you. I know myself well enough to know that I would never do that without caring about the person deeply, and being prepared for both the long haul, and the possible up-coming end. That way I wouldn't be hurt. I'm guessing that I had figured it would end soon, but that doesn't mean that I wouldn't have wanted to be with you," her voice remained intense, but she no longer yelled at him. However, she did continue to push him back and hit him.

"You don't understand. Everything I've done…how can I possibly live a normal life now?" his voice was no longer calm, it took on a deep emotion that she couldn't comprehend, though it was plain in his eyes. What she did see though, was hurt.

"You could try," she said, glaring at him. "If you love me as much as you say you do, you could try for me. You could try for our son. Instead of just saying you love us, then leaving, you actually stand up like a man, and show everyone how wrong they were about you. Show them who you really are, that you too can live like any other man," she stopped hitting him, but she remained close, glowering up into his eyes.

"I can't live like any other man. I have murdered so many, including my own family," his voice turned just as cold as hers had. Her eyes narrowed even more.

"You seemed perfectly ready to try yesterday. What changed?"

"I saw you and Sasuke together, and I saw how well he worked with Shisui," the coldness disappeared as he spoke of his son.

"You work well with him too," Sakura said, still angry.

"No. I can see that you are going to be stubborn about this, but when we get back to the Leaf Village, I'm going to go find Hidan, and I will disappear," he didn't even have time to blink before Sakura suddenly slapped him, then began to hit other parts of him too.

"How dare you!! Your son has a right to get to know you! I have a right!! Don't you care about your son at all?! How can you just leave him? He needs you in his life!! You stupid, selfish, heartless bastard!!" Itachi grabbed her wrists and held her away from him, but she continued to fight. His brow furrowed as he noticed tears leaking out of her eyes. On an oath, he swept down and captured her lips with his. She responded with the same urgency as him, moaning as he crushed her body against his.

All power of thinking left both of them as Itachi spun her around and pinned her against a tree. Once his hands left her wrists to roam her body, her own flew down and buried themselves in his hair, taking the hair tie out and spilling his hair over his shoulders. He gave his own moan and pressed as closely as physically possible to her, slipping his hands up her shirt. She gave a sound of complaint as he parted from her long enough to slip her shirt over her head, then gasped as he brought his lips instead to her throat. Her heart stopped, and then took off like a frightened rabbit's. When Itachi picked her up, she wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him closer.

As she began to pull his own shirt over his head, Itachi's brain managed to gather some power to think, and he pulled his head away for a moment.

"This is too soon. You still don't even remember me. You need time," his voice was a mere whisper thanks on part to his heavy breathing.

"I don't care. Whatever memories I don't have, my feelings make up for. I may not remember falling in love with you, but I still feel it very strongly,"

"Still…we can't. I will still need to leave once we get back, and I don't want either of us to hurt more than we have to," he began to pull away from her completely, but Sakura tightened her legs around his waist.

"I'm not letting you go. I just found you, and I will not let you leave. Whatever problems you have, we can get through them together. Call me a hopeless romantic, but if someone like you could fall in love, especially with someone like me, then I believe that most anything is possible," she put her hands on his face, making him look into her eyes. He could see the determination in her darkened emerald eyes, and the fire. She was not going to let him go, no matter what he did.

"This is not right. We need to think-"

"Stop thinking then, damnit!" Sakura growled in frustration and pulled his face back to hers, cutting of any sound he made with her lips. "Don't think. Just feel," her voice became soft and desperate. "Just touch me," on a sob, she brought his hands to her breasts, and he was once again rendered helpless.

On an oath, Itachi lowered Sakura to the bench, then hovered above her as he discarded his shirt. His heart pumped faster as her hands roamed over his bare chest. He had forgotten what this woman could do to him. How she could turn him into a human candle. One moment he was burning brightly, the next, melting. More desperate than he had ever known himself to be, Itachi lowered himself down to her as she arched up to meet him. His lips captured hers, then traveled down her throat, and to her collar bone. As her back arched up again, he reached a hand back and undid her bra, leaving her breasts uncovered. She shivered, but he knew it was not from the chill.

Completely moving on instinct, Itachi continued pressing kisses on her skin, all the way down to her stomach. Her moans became softer, but only because they were strangled by her throat constricting. Since her memory was gone, Sakura couldn't remember feeling so blissfully unaware of everything. Everything, that is, except the man she was completely and utterly aware of, and in tune with. As he unclasped his pants and pulled them down, she felt the excitement rising. He very gracefully removed her pants, and sunk back down to her, capturing her lips again as he slipped himself into her. Her gasp was muted by his lips, but her moans were still audible as they took time with his thrusts. Never before had she been so completely in unison with one person. That was when the bright light flashed, and everything she had been missing came back.

Unable to really do much, Sakura just put more emotion into her kisses, more desperation and need into her caresses. By the time she came to her climax, it was like nothing she had ever felt before. Itachi seemed to notice something, but was obviously too aware of what they were doing to react. So, when they lay on the bench, both breathing heavily, he lifted his head slowly and looked into her eyes. Her smile and the way she softly brushed his cheek gave him the answer he needed. He smiled as well, picked her up, and carried her back into the house, neither one really thinking about what anyone else would think.

Sasuke stood by his window, not really sure how to react. He had seen his brother and Sakura, and could hear them now in her bedroom. After all his brother had said about letting her go and having Sasuke take care of her…then again, Sakura was incredibly persuasive, and Sasuke had warned Itachi that she would not be particularly thrilled with the idea of having Itachi leave without a word. There were some times when Sasuke wished with all his might that wasn't right. Though they were few and far between. This particular instance would remain the main time when he wished that he had been wrong. Upon returning to the Leaf Village, Sasuke had had every intention of going to Sakura and making a life with her. Well, his brother had gotten there first. At least their clan would be restored.

Sasuke nearly laughed. How ironic. The man who destroyed the Uchiha clan would be the one to bring it back. Bitter thoughts still heavy on his mind, Sasuke went to bed, focusing on blocking out any sound.

Sakura lay contently in her bed, snuggling up to Itachi's warm chest. Her eyelids were heavy with exhaustion, but she fought it off for a couple more minutes, remember a couple questions she had wanted to ask Itachi.

"How's Hidan?" she asked, her voice slurred. He chuckled slightly.

"He's fine. He's been the one helping Sasuke and I on our search to find you. I sent him a note this morning telling that we found you and what had happened. I'm sure he'll visit you when we get back to the village," he brushed her hair away from her face, and then kissed the top of her head. "Now, I know you have more questions, but they can wait until tomorrow. You need sleep now,"

"One more," Sakura's words very nearly did not make it out of her mouth. Itachi sighed, but remained silent so she could speak. "You won't leave me now, will you?"

Itachi was silent for a moment, then shook his head against the top of hers. "No. I have a feeling that if I left, I would only make things worse,"

"Good. And you're right," Sakura cuddled even closer into his side, and sighed, going to sleep almost instantly afterwards.

"Sleep well, Love,"

A.N. OMG!! I am so sorry it took me so long to finish this one! I have been absurdly busy, which has been making me absurdly tired. Anyway, this was a shorter chapter, so sorry. (along with the fact that it took me forever and a day.) Thank you for all of your reviews, they really lift my spirits, and I love reading them. I hope I get some for this chapter, even though most of you have probably forgotten I exist. Sorry!! bows repeatedly Even though I took a butt-load of time to finish this chapter, I still do not like fires, but reviews are always appreciated. This chapter was kinda hard for me to write, don't ask why, but it was. So, if it seemed off, I'm sorry, I just had a hard time with it, except at the end. Other than that, not much to tell here. I'm going to my prom, (which makes me incredibly happy), and I have two concerts coming up. Well…I'm going to bed now, considering it's fairly late, and I will definitely update sooner on the next chapter. More reviews please! –Slant Agat! --Kat


	15. Chapter 15

When Sakura woke up the next morning, she was pleased to find Itachi's strong arms wrapped tightly around her waist, securing her to his chest. His breathing was slow and deep, hinting that he was still asleep. She turned over as gently as she possibly could so that way she could see the sky outside. The sun was just barely coming up over the horizon, which meant that Itachi was going to be up in about two seconds. He never slept when the sun was up. Sure enough, she felt Itachi start to move a little, and then heard a sigh, which meant that he had just woken up. She gave a sigh when he pressed his lips to the hollow of her throat.

"So, you're coming with us today, yes?" she asked, lifting her head to give him more access to her throat. He sighed, then gave a little nip on her collar bone.

"Yes. You should have more faith in me,"

"I do have faith in you, but when you tell me that you're going to leave me, I start to lose a little bit of it. You can't deny that you earned it,"

"No." They were silent for a moment, and then Itachi rolled over Sakura and began to climb out of the bed. As he got out, he grabbed Sakura's hand and suddenly pulled her into his arms and carried her to the bathroom, her laughs echoing behind them.

An hour later, the whole team was gathered in front of the village gates, looking out at the road ahead of them.

"Will we need to slow down?" Kakashi looked at Sakura and the wriggling bundle in her arms. She looked up at him with enough reproach in her glare to make anyone cringe. He laughed nervously. "I guess not," Naruto and Kakashi lead the team with Sasuke and Sai bringing up the rear. The air got a lot colder from the front to the back.

"Sakura was bad enough when she was single and not a mother. Now she's about ten times worse," Naruto whispered in Kakashi's ear once they got going. Kakashi only nodded, and showed no surprise when a rock came flying out of nowhere, nailing Naruto in the head. Everyone just continued on their way, saying nothing. The rest of the journey was made in silence, making it very long.

When they finally arrived at the gates of the Leaf Village, it was foggy and cool, the sun barely peeking over the horizon. As Sakura looked at the entrance to her home, she felt tears threaten to flood her eyes. She closed her eyes, trying to force them back. They opened again when she felt a hand close over hers. A smile graced her lips as she squeezed Itachi's hand, knowing it was him without having to look. However, she still looked up into his eyes, losing herself for a moment in their endless depths. Her focus then returned to the others as the gate opened and they all entered the still sleeping village.

Exhaustion began to seep its way into Sakura's system as they walked the streets. She fought it back as Kakashi turned to the team.

"Well, we had better get in and give the Hokage our reports," they all nodded and began to walk again, but Kakashi put a hand up. "Except you Sakura. You need to go get some rest," he shook his head as she started to protest. "No. Itachi, I don't think Tsunade will expect you to come in right away, so I expect you to take Sakura with you, and force her to sleep," Itachi nodded, then the rest disappeared.

"Jerk," Sakura muttered, but was cut off from saying anything else as Itachi picked her up and sped off in the direction of the Uchiha estate. It didn't take them long to get to the estate, and Sakura soon found herself in Itachi's room, on his bed with him stripping her gear off her and putting the crib they had brought together so he could put Shisui in it. She watched in silence, but protested as he tried to continue stripping her.

"I'm perfectly capable of taking my own clothes off, thank you," she sighed in exasperation and began to take off her outer layers, leaving only a camisole and shorts. With her eyes closed, she fell back on the bed and stretched out. Her lips curved upward and she moaned lightly as she felt the warmth and weight of Itachi's body on hers, followed by his lips on her throat. As he rolled to the side, she turned into him, cuddling into his warmth, and breathing in his scent. She fell asleep instantly once he began to stroke her hair.

A few hours later, Itachi woke Sakura up, and they went to go and give Tsunade their reports. Itachi's was received with minimal interest. She had already heard his story from the others. Sakura's, however, was taken much differently. At first, Tsunade and Itachi just stood and listened, faces impassive. Once Sakura got further into her experience over the past year, both of them tensed, and Sakura could see the anger in Tsunade's eyes, and in the way her hands went white with all the pressure she was exerting on them. She didn't even have to turn around to see how angry Itachi was; she could feel it. By the time she was completely done, the room was tense enough to cut a knife through. Silence followed the end of Sakura's report, and she stood, waiting for Tsunade's reaction.

"Well…" she sighed, "I guess I'll get that put into the records. You may both leave." Tsunade waved her hand at them, then turned back to her paperwork. Once outside, Sakura took Itachi's hand.

"So what should we do?" she looked up into his eyes, and when he looked down to catch her gaze with his, she blushed. "Something else! I meant what should we do in the village?"

Itachi said nothing, just kept on walking. Sighing, Sakura only followed him as they got into a courtyard where vendors were selling different products. While they were looking at a jewelry vendor, Sakura very nearly drooling over some of the rings, she was suddenly tackled, a squeal the only audible sound.

"Sakura!! I thought you were gone forever!"

"Ino!" Sakura turned and wrapped her arms around her friend, squeezing as hard as she could as Ino returned the favor.

"How are you? Are you ok?" Ino's questions continued to spurt out of her mouth until Sakura held a hand up.

"I'm perfectly fine. Better than I have been in a long time," she looked up at Itachi with this statement and smiled, warmth spreading all the way to her toes as he replied with one of his own. Ino looked between the two of them, simply beaming.

"So is there anything new I should know about?" Ino looked anxiously between Itachi and Sakura. Sakura's face took on the "oops" look.

"Well…"

"We have a son. His name is Shisui," Itachi looked straight at Ino's shocked face as Sakura turned her own up to his.

"A…son?" Ino paused for a moment, looking down at the ground, then suddenly looked up again and shrieked. "Oh my God!! You so have to show me! I want to see him so badly!! Where is he?" she looked between Itachi and Sakura again as if waiting for one of them to bring the baby out.

"He's at home. Naruto and Sasuke said they would babysit," Sakura smiled, loving the feeling of normality in seeing her friend gush over wanting to see her son.

The rest of the day was spent walking around the village, talking to various people. Warmth was continuously spreading throughout Sakura's body all through the day. She had forgotten how much she loved the village and all the people, going about their daily business. Itachi kept his eyes on her as they walked, feeling his own heart warm at seeing her happy. Even when she had been with him at Akatsuki, he hadn't seen this degree of happiness. She simply glowed with pure joy. At one point, as they were walking home, Sakura caught Itachi looking down at her.

"What?"

"Nothing. You are just very happy here," he smiled at her, and, her heart melting into a big puddle, Sakura beamed back. Once they got back to the house, Itachi made sure Sakura had gone inside, then walked away, telling Sakura ahead of time that he wanted to talk to Tsunade.

Sakura walked into the nursery, and felt herself nearly melt again. Naruto had apparently gone home, leaving Sasuke asleep in the rocking chair, Shisui asleep in his arms. Trying her best not to wake either of the sleeping males, Sakura gently took Shisui from Sasuke's arms, and put him back in his cradle. When she looked back over, Sasuke's eyes were on hers.

"He's a heavy sleeper once he gets there isn't he?" Sasuke kept his gaze on hers as he spoke. Sakura laughed, then looked back down at her sleeping son, both because she wanted to look at her son, and for a reason to look away from Sasuke's eyes.

"Yes. It is a problem getting him to sleep, but once you do…" she let the statement hang as she stroked the silky soft, black hair of her son. She tried to ignore the tension that ran across her shoulders as Sasuke stood up and crossed over to her.

"Were you ever going to tell me face-to-face that you decided on my brother?" his voice was calm, but Sakura could hear the storm underneath it. She sighed.

"I didn't really want to. I figured you would pretty much see it, and I did tell you that I love Itachi," she turned to look at Sasuke's eyes, and found them blank; never a good thing to find.

"I did figure it out, but I wanted you to actually tell me," he moved a little closer, and, though she didn't mean to, Sakura took a step backward.

"I'm sorry. I really am. Sasuke…" she reached a hand up, let it rest on his cheek, feeling a pang of guilt as his eyes finally showed the pain he was feeling before he closed them, "I only want you to find happiness. But…you won't find that with me. I hope you can accept that, and move on," She kept her hand where it was as he smiled and sighed lightly, his hand moving up to cover hers.

"I can. I love both you and my brother too much to do otherwise," he opened his eyes and took a couple steps away from her. "I guess I was just too late," Sakura moved towards him and opened her mouth to speak, but Sasuke held up a hand. "It's ok. My brother just came back, and I figure now is my time to step back. Make him happy," Right as Sasuke disappeared, Itachi came back into the room.

"I saw my brother leave. Is everything alright?" he came closer to Sakura, then held her close as she let the tears fall. He didn't ask any more questions, understanding immediately what had happened. It didn't take Sakura very long to recover, but even when she did, she remained in Itachi's arms.

"I used to love him," her words were a whisper against his chest, "I loved him nearly as much as I love you now," she looked up then smiled. "Of course I could never love anyone as much as I love you," she leaned her head back, and Itachi brought his lips down to hers for a gentle kiss.

"Aw come on. I didn't come here to watch you guys make-out," Sakura gasped and gave a little squeal as she looked behind Itachi to see Hidan. With another squeal, she threw herself into his arms.

"Hidan! What are you doing here?" she kept her arms around him as she looked into his face.

"Well, since Sleeping Beauty over there didn't inform me that you guys were back here, I had to find out from the rumor chain, and thought I would come and see how you were," he seemed awkward holding Sakura, but happy.

"He was worried," Itachi said, smiling a bit. Hidan automatically let go of Sakura and turned toward Itachi with a glare.

"I fucking was not!" he yelled indignantly. Sakura laughed, and hugged Hidan around the waist.

"That's alright. I'm just glad you're here. What are you going to do now?" her voice went somber as she asked her questions and moved so she could see his face.

"I'm just going to hang around in the shadows and help from there. Unlike the bastard over there, it would be a little harder to redeem myself," he put on a smile, and Sakura added one in return.

Hidan stayed for a while longer, telling them everything that had happened on his side, then left, promising to visit again. After he was gone, Sakura cuddled into Itachi's side, and they remained there, just lying next to each other. Near dawn, Itachi brushed his lips over her forehead.

"Sakura,"

"Hm?" Sakura's voice was low and slurred from sleepiness.

"Are you happy?" Itachi's voice seemed oddly and uncharacteristically nervous. Sakura opened her eyes and looked up into his face, perfectly awake.

"Of course I am. Why would you ask?" her brow furrowed in suspicion.

"Because I was hoping you would be happy where you are now, so that way I would have a better chance at your answer to this," he brought out a small black box with his free hand, and put it in front of Sakura's face. She opened it, then gasped. "Will you marry me?"

"Yes! Of course! Yes!" Sakura slipped the opal-surrounded diamond on her finger, then kissed Itachi fully and passionately on the mouth.

Epilogue:

"Will you train with me today brother?" a little boy with black hair and green eyes looked up at his older brother, a mirror image of him, hopefully.

"Maybe later Sasuke. I have to look at these mission reports first," the older brother smiled at his brother and flicked him playfully on the nose. "Go play with your little sister. I'm sure she's got enough energy to keep you occupied. Or," he held up his hand when his brother tried to protest, "go and talk to Mom or Dad and see if they will train with you,"

"Fine. But I wanted to train with you," Sasuke walked out, and nearly bumped into his father.

"In a hurry somewhere?" his father bent down so they were eye-to-eye.

"No. I was just coming to see if you or Mom would like to train because Shisui's being a butt," Sasuke looked at Itachi, his whole face a pout.

"Now look at that face," Sakura leaned against the doorway and smiled at her youngest son. "I'm sure your father would love to train with you, considering he has nothing else to do today," her voice went lower as the suggestions and warnings rang through the air. Itachi grimaced at his son, then smiled and winked.

"Of course. Come on," he led Sasuke out the door, then turned back to kiss his wife. "How are you?" he asked cupping her face in his hands.

"Happy,"

A.N. OMG!! I am so, so, so, so, so terribly sorry that took me so long to get out! I was so busy with school and finals and all the other things that come with the end of the year that I had no time to finish it. So, that's the end!! I have another story that I'm writing, and since I'm out of school, it should come faster. Give me some thoughts on the story, like what you liked and what you didn't. I'm sorry if this chapter seemed rushed, but I had absolutely no ideas left. Anyway, thank you for putting up with all my lateness and flaws in the story. I hope you will read my next one! It will also be an Ita/Sak fic, but will be based more on the recent chapters, so a lot of angst and all that. Well, till the next story! Slant agat--Kat


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